Highland Park Woman Sets Herself on Fire
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A distraught 35-year-old Highland Park woman set herself ablaze on a neighborhood street early Saturday morning, suffering third-degree burns on 90% of her body, a Los Angeles police spokesman said.
Horrified neighbors saw Louisa Jiminez of 5514 Marmion Way engulfed in flames about 6:15 a.m., police said.
One neighbor who ran to extinguish the flames with a garden hose told police that Jiminez tried to wave him away.
Jiminez, a mother of three young children, was taken to Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena and was in critical condition Saturday evening, authorities said.
Sgt. John Johnston said Jiminez was apparently despondent and had asked her husband the night before to set her on fire to “purify” her body.
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