[type00rev]

That was quite cinematic!!

[zabbix]

A security video shows the chaotic scene after McLemore ran into a Murphy's Bar while on fire.

[orionlover69]

My nephew Od'd last week and died. He donated 100% of his organs. My daughter had only one thing to say about her cousin doing it. "Dumbass"

[NUUDLZ]

DEATH CURES STUPIDITY QUICKLY !!

[Vamooska]

There's an old flame a burnin in your eye.

[Pyramid_Head]

Well that was a dumb thing to do.

[Ferocity]

you'd think they'd do a little bit of internet research before setting themselves on fire ya know!
Death by fire is longer than drowning by three fold and way more painful! I hope he's happy now; he got to where he wanted to go.

[Ferocity]

Originally Posted by C.E.R.T. ↗

"Kerosene" not "Gasoline"?
Odd choice. I could see if this happened in a third-world country, but where in downtown Memphis do you run and grab a gallon of 1800's kerosene?

Kerosene's flames&smoke are visually more stunning to look at than gasoline flames&smoke.

[dancroman]

So he made 18k from this? Thats all I got from the story lol

[CitizenShamus]

I'm from Memphis, and I used to know Jared. You can just about spit from the bar and hit the side of my daughter's pre-school, and were it not for her either her father or I or both would likely have been at Murphy's that night. (He almost certainly would have been.) So anyway, I'm very local. He was known to have mental health issues and known to police. He had threatened to kill the ex-gf more than once (most recently in the 2 days preceding his self-immolation), physically attacked her father, attacked her with a knife, broke into her apartment, etc etc etc. There was a known history of domestic violence in the relationship. She had pressed charges, he had been institutionalized, been put on diversion (probation, in other words), she had an OOP against him, which according to reports was filed the morning of the day he blew himself up. He came into the bar where the ex-gf was working at the end of the second band's set, made sure his presence was known to everyone in the bar (he was a rather well-known musician in the midtown community and audio engineer at Ardent Studios), kissed her (or attempted to, reports vary), muttered something about "goodbye", rubbed her arm across his chest to prove he had doused himself in kerosene, went back to where the phone was left, and, as you see, dumped more kerosene on himself. The bystander (who is also rather well-known as a social activist in Memphis) saw him hold the lighter up and attempted to kick it out of his hand as he flicked the lighter. (He got second degree burns for his trouble.) The ex-gf was standing across the street outside the bar when he went up. He ran at her (probably with the idea that she would freeze in terror) and tried to grab her (likely another reason he had rubbed her arm in the kerosene). I don't know her personally, but she is a BOSS BITCH: she held the door open for people running into the bar for safety, got in herself, closed the door, and attempted to lock it. He pushed himself against the doors, and when the heat became too much for her, she yelled at everyone else to run and then she ran, too. As if the incident in and of itself (and the information trickling out about the long lead-up to it) wasn't disturbing enough, if you watch the surveillance video and know the geography of the street and where the bar is situated, you can tell that the spot where he lit himself up was in a place where you could see him clearly from the front door of the bar, but he was not in violation of the restraining order. He was screaming "She made me do this" as the remaining patrons in the bar tried to extinguish the fire, and it would not surprise me in the least if those were his final words as well. This was not a cry for help, this was not just about his mental illness-- although that was clearly a factor-- and while some are blaming MPD for failure to prevent the incident by arresting, detaining, or otherwise institutionalizing him (we have a squad of the police department specifically for dealing with mentally ill individuals, which has been a model for other departments), in my eyes the only thing that would have changed might have been the timing. The deliberation and planning that I see here indicate to me that this was the last desprate act of a psychopath who intended to obtain what he had been denied or die trying, and take her (and probably as many others as possible) with him. The GoFundMe that was set up for the ex gf made it to over 27k, and she and her family are working with mental health resources here in the city to use a part of the money to assist other witnesses, friends, and the midtown/music community in general (which is very familial and insular; Memphis is really just a big small town) with counseling. He *was* sick, but he was also a sick fuck, if you know what I mean.