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Albany mans sets himself on fire

• Originally called to a mobile home for a domestic complaint, an encounter with an Albany man turned into something much, much worse, authorities say.

J.D. Sumner

ALBANY — A 36-year-old man doused himself with gasoline and lit himself on fire after an altercation with his girlfriend early Saturday morning in what one officer said was one of the most disturbing scenes he’s ever seen.

Tony Shipman, of Albany, was taken by critical-care ambulance from Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital to the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta Saturday after sustaining second and third degree burns over more than 90 percent of his body, according to an EMS report made available to the Herald.

Shipman was confronted by Dougherty County Police officers just after midnight Saturday after officers responded to a domestic violence call at the Paradise Village Mobile Home Park on Holly Drive, Sgt. Lee Reynolds said.

Reynolds said that he responded to the scene after Shipman’s girlfriend called police saying that he had physically attacked her and then bit her son on the chest.

“When I got there and made the decision to arrest him under domestic violence laws, we found him down at lot 195,” Reynolds said. “There, he was sitting on the ground and began to pour gas on the ground and then doused himself with it.”

Reynolds said that he tried to negotiate with Shipman and notified fire and EMS units to be on the way when he doused himself, but that Shipman was combative and non-cooperative.

“I was hoping that negotiations would be established,” Reynolds said. “Just to get enough time to get EMS and Fire there in case he did something. But before EMS could get on scene he lit himself on fire.”

Shipman was taken by ambulance to Phoebe before being transferred to Augusta around 7 a.m., Reynolds said.

Despite the burns and a less than grim prognosis from doctors, Shipman was still clinging to life in a medical-induced coma Saturday evening.

“In my 25 years this is simply the worst thing I’ve seen,” Reynolds said. “I’ve spent 20 years with the city and five years with DCP and seen a lot of really bad things. But for this to happen right in front of my eyes; it’s still just unbelievable.”

“I just kept hoping that he would talk to us. To give us a chance to help him, but there just wasn’t any talking to him,” he said.

Reynolds said that Shipman had moved to Albany from Tennessee. According to the Tennessee Department of Corrections, Shipman was on probation with the Nashville, Tenn., office and was scheduled for release in 2011.

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