Man Burned During Standoff With Windsor Police Dies

WINDSOR, CT — A man died after he apparently set fire to a garage on Maple Avenue where he had been involved in a standoff with Windsor police Friday night, Capt. Andrew Power said.

Police were called to the house around 9 p.m., following a situation involving a possible violation of a protective order. A court had ordered the man to stay away from the home and seek substance abuse and mental health evaluations, Power said.

After police arrived, the man hid in his garage. Police did not believe the man had a weapon during the standoff, and no children were in the home. The regional SWAT team was called to try to convince the man to leave the detached garage peacefully, but he set a fire and was burned, Power said.

Deputy Fire Marshal Richard Shea said the fire started around 11:30 p.m. and the garage quickly became fully engulfed. Firefighters — who were already at the scene as a precaution — put the fire out and pulled the man out. He was taken to the Connecticut Burn Center at Bridgeport Hospital, but police learned Sunday he had died, Power said.

Shea said the man had second- and third-degree burns over most of his body.

State police brought an accelerant-sniffing police dog to the scene and discovered what fueled the fire. "There was a liquid accelerant used, it looks like the fire was intentionally set," he said, although investigators don’t know with "absolute certainty" that it was intentional, Shea said.

No one else was injured in the incident.

Shea continues to investigate the precise cause of the fire with the state police Fire and Explosion Investigation Unit.

The investigation is active and ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to call the Windsor Police Department at 860-688-5273.