Evil bid to burn fam
Facebook diss stirs punk’s plan
HE HAD A 5-GALLON gas can, a knife and a plan: He wanted to make himself an orphan.
Cops arrested an unhinged Queens gang member who tried to burn down his house while his 50-year-old mother and three other family members were inside — all because they dissed him on Facebook, he told authorities.
If his family survived the blaze, 31-year-old Shawn Hoggarth, a member of the Snow gang, had a backup plan.
“I was going to stab everyone that came out of that house,” the alleged arsonist muttered to police after he was picked up near the torched home on 137th Ave. near 175th St. in Rochdale.
“At least it’s over now,” he told police, believing he had succeeded in killing his family. “They were talking about me on Facebook.”
It was not immediately disclosed what the family said to set him off.
Hoggarth, who family members describe as schizophrenic, is accused of pouring gasoline on the outside of the home about 5:15 p.m. Thursday, according to court documents.
A short time earlier, he came into the home — violating an order of protection filed against him last month after he assaulted his mother, officials said.
He went up to his room, then quickly left, family members said. “I’ll be back,” he said. As he left, he set a fuelsopped welcome mat ablaze.
His relatives smelled gas and tried to exit the home, but were pushed back inside by the flames.
“I went to the front door and a huge boom of flame almost blew up my face,” Hoggarth’s 53-year-old aunt Juanita Grant said. “If I had opened the gate, my face would be singed.”
"I slammed the door and I told everyone inside, ‘You better get the hell out because the whole place is on fire.’"
Grant, Hoggarth’s mom, 13-year-old sister and 62-yearold uncle were briefly trapped in the home, officials said.
Flames scorched the exterior of the aluminum-sided house and damaged the inside of the first floor and basement but no one was hurt, officials said.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze without a problem.
Responding police found Hoggarth a short distance away, reeking of gasoline.
“I just lit my uncle’s house on fire,” he told one cop taking him into custody.
When police pulled a curved knife from his pants pocket, Hoggarth confessed that he was going to stab his relatives if they survived, according to court papers.
Investigators charged Hoggarth with arson, attempted murder, acting in a manner injurious to a child and weapons possession.
A Queens Criminal Court judge ordered him held without bail Friday. He was also ordered to undergo a psychiatric exam.
Relatives told authorities Hoggarth tried to set the home on fire once before but they did not report it.
“Saying he was a good kid does nothing,” Hoggarth’s outraged mom told the Daily News Saturday. “I’m done.”