COLUMBIA, S.C. — Deputies with the Richland County Sheriff's Department have arrested a 55-year-old man who they say threw a flaming cup of gasoline on a 26-year-old person.
Cornelius Neal Diamond, 55, was arrested on Monday, Oct. 5, on attempted murder charges and is being held at Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center.
According to the report, deputies were dispatched to Prisma Health Baptist Hospital on Sept. 18 after reports of a man suffering from burn injuries to his face. The victim, an unidentified 26-year-old male told the deputies that Diamond, an acquaintance, had given the victim a gun to hold onto that someone later stole.
Diamond repeatedly demanded his gun back and made threats at the 26-year-old if he did not return it.
While walking on Abbott Road, near Bluff Road around 6:15 p.m. on Sept. 18, the victim was confronted by Diamond about the gun. After an argument, Diamond threw a flaming cup of gasoline on the 26-year-old’s face and walked away.
The victim was later taken to the Doctors Hospital Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta to be treated for 2nd- and 3rd-degree burns.
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