A man died Tuesday afternoon after he reportedly barricaded himself inside a north Sacramento County home and presumably set fire to house, authorities said.
The incident occurred at the home in the 2400 block of Covered Wagon Circle in Elverta. The residential neighborhood sits between Gibson Ranch Regional Park and Cherry Island Golf Course, just northeast of Rio Linda.
Initially, deputies were called to the home shortly after 4 p.m. for a reported family dispute, said Sgt. Amar Gandhi, a Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office spokesman. The 911 call reporting the family dispute was ended before dispatchers could get more information.
Gandhi said there was a possibility a man was armed after he reportedly barricaded himself inside the home, but he said it was unclear whether the man was armed with a weapon. He said initial reports of shots fired inside the home appeared to be unfounded.
Aerial footage from KCRA’s news helicopter showed flames coming out of the home’s windows and through its roof, along with thick black smoke that engulfed the home. Firefighters attacked the fire but later took a defensive stance to keep the flames from spreading to nearby homes.
Firefighters got the fire under control and found the man dead inside, said Capt. Parker Wilbourn, a spokesman for the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District. He said it’s assumed the man who had barricaded himself inside the home started the fire, but the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
