Police looking for man who set 2 homes, 2 trucks on fire with home made flamethrower

BARTOW COUNTY, Ga. - A man armed with a homemade flamethrower set two homes and two trucks on fire and threatened to burn his friend alive.

Investigators said Randy Weaver got into a fight with his wife, tried to run her over with a truck, then set their Cartersville home on fire. Friday, there was nothing left to the home on Cedar Creek Road in Cartersville.

Police said Weaver then drove down the road to his sister's house and tried to set her home and her boyfriend on fire. Paul Gass said Weaver came after him with some type of homemade flamethrower.

"He shot it at me twice and told me he was going to burn me a life and burn us up in this house," said Gass.

Investigators said they believe Weaver had a propane tank with him that he had taken from an outdoor grill.

"It was a propane tank that had a flame torch to it, but due to the regulator that was attached it was a flamethrower," said Bartow County Fire Arson Investigator Sgt. Jessie Green.

Paul Gass said Weaver then jumped into his truck, and crashed it right into Gass' blue Dodge, then set both trucks on fire. When firefighters got there, the homemade flamethrower was on the ground very close to the flaming vehicles.

"It could have seriously injured some people, anybody around if it had exploded," said Sgt. Green.

"That was the main thing I was worried about blowing up is that tank, and he had gas cans hanging off the back of his truck," said Gass.

Gass said Weaver and his sister, Johnnie Michelle Houston, took off in her car and haven't been seen since. Police are looking for them. They are believed to be in Houston's dark blue Kia with a handicap tag.

Weaver is facing four counts of arson and there may be additional charges. His sister, Johnnie Michelle Houston, faces charges of terroristic threats and battery from a domestic dispute at her home shortly before the fires.