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Associated PressHe suffers severe burns as he torches the vehicle of Marines who came to tell him his son died in Iraq.
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - A father who had just been told his Marine son was killed in combat in Iraq set fire to a Marine Corps van and suffered severe burns Wednesday.
Three U.S. Marines went to a house in Hollywood to tell the parents of Lance Cpl. Alexander Arredondo their 20-year-old son died Tuesday in Najaf, family members said.
The father, Carlos Arredondo, 44, then walked into the garage, picked up a can of gasoline, a propane tank and a blowtorch, Hollywood police Capt. Tony Rode said. He smashed the van's window, doused the van with gasoline and set it ablaze.
"The father was in disbelief, same as any of us would be after hearing this kind of news," Rode said. "But then the father basically loses it."
The Marines tried to stop Arredondo from setting the fire, but he set himself on fire in the process and was inside the burning van when the Marines pulled him out and put out the flames, police said. None of the Marines was injured, Marine Maj. Scott Mack said. "We have not seen this type of reaction," Mack said. " ... I don't think any of us are qualified to go into the depths of the mind and truly anticipate how somebody is going to react."
Arredondo was first taken to a Hollywood hospital, then transferred to the major burn unit at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. He was listed in serious condition with burns to his arms and legs.
Arredondo is an immigrant from Costa Rica. His wife, Melida Arredondo, Alexander's stepmother, said she and her husband talked two weeks ago to their son, who was on his second tour of duty in Iraq.
She said they knew what was coming when they saw the Marines walking toward the front door about 2:15 p.m.
"My husband immediately knew that his firstborn son had been killed - and my husband did not take the news well," she told reporters before police escorted her to the hospital."
Luz Marina Arredondo, Alexander's grandmother, felt the government was at fault in his death.
"I blame them a lot," she said. "They send them like guinea pigs over there."