INDEPENDENCE, Ky. — A man has been arrested after police said they heard him firing shots inside an Independence, Ky., home; police later learned he tried to use gasoline to set the house on fire while a woman and three children were inside.
According to a press release from the Independence Police Department, officers were dispatched to a home in Independence after a woman called 911 to report she'd locked herself and her three children in a bathroom to hide from her husband, Joshua Harmon, who'd "reportedly become violent."
The woman told dispatchers she'd been assaulted by her husband and locked herself in the master bathroom of the home with the children; while the woman was on the phone with 911 dispatchers, she said the husband had left the house, so she locked the front door, according to police.
While officers were on their way to the home, the woman told the 911 calltaker her husband had returned with a gun and was shooting the front door of the house to force it open, the press release says.
Police said the man was able to get back into the house, so the woman locked herself inside a bedroom.
When officers arrived at the home, they heard gunshots coming from inside, police said. The man came to the front door, but went back inside when he saw police officers; meanwhile, the woman told dispatchers her husband had made his way into the bedroom where she'd been hiding and was trying to force his way into the bathroom, where she'd retreated, police said.
"Officers then forced entry through the front door and could hear screaming coming from the rear of the home," reads the press release.
Police said officers forced their way into the bedroom and arrested the man.
While inside the home, police said officers noticed the smell of gasoline; on further inspection, they found a large can of gasoline had been placed inside the kitchen oven, and the oven was turned on.
"Officers removed the gasoline can, which was hot and swollen, from the oven," says the press release.
The woman and her three children were rescued from the home; all were uninjured. Police said the man had minor, self-inflicted injuries when he was arrested.
After his arrest, police said the man also spit on an officer, resulting in an additional charge.
The man was charged with attempted arson, wanton endangerment, fourth-degree assault, domestic violence, criminal mischief and third-degree assault.
He is being held in the Kenton County Detention Center on a $20,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 16.
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