Investigation Ongoing After Man Sets Himself, Van on Fire in Wal-mart Parking Lot

A day after police said an Ocean County man lit himself and his van on fire, the evidence of the blaze, ash and fire truck hoses’ water remained in row 2 of the Route 37 Walmart where the incident occurred.

The activity at the bustling store carried on throughout Monday, shoppers unaware that the parking lot now filled with customers was the scene of an apparent suicide the night before, as earlier fire trucks from Toms River Fire Co. 1 and 2 worked to get the fire under control.

An investigation continues into the incident, with detectives from Toms River and the county as well as an autopsy trying to determine answers, Toms River Police Chief Michael Mastronardy said.

The victim's identity and hometown has not yet been released, but Mastronardy said officials believe the victim and owner of the van was a 59-year-old Ocean County man.

After firefighters arrived around , they soon discovered the man in the driver’s seat had succumbed in the fire. Mastronardy said police believe the man lit his 2005 Ford van on fire and then got back in the vehicle, in an apparent suicide.

The police chief said that a witness had called police after discovering the fire in the parking lot of the Walmart at 950 Route 37 West. The vehicle was parked in the front parking area of the store, approximately three rows from the front door, midway down row 2 on the west end of the property.

Mastronardy said the blaze was extinguished after approximately 10 minutes. The store and the two fast food restaurants on the property were each open at the time.           

Shoppers interviewed Monday afternoon at the Walmart said they were unaware of the incident the night prior, and expressed disbelief at so public an act, with the use of fire.

“How terrible,” said one 80-year-old Holiday City resident who declined to give her name. “I shop here all the time, but it’s usually during the day, and I never would have imagined something like that happening here.”

Mastronardy said he could not recall a time when a similar incident of self-immolation had occurred in the township.

, a Brick resident crashed into a Fischer Boulevard utility pole, and, after police arrived, the man walked back to his vehicle and fatally shot himself. It was the last known report of an apparent suicide occurring in a public place in Toms River.

Investigating along with Officers Ken Thomas, Carl Basile, Thomas DiMichele are Detective James Magovern and the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department and Ocean County Prosecutors Office.