ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, May 1, 1996 TAG: 9605010060
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
Robin Williams had broken off with her boyfriend.
But he may have wanted a different ending.
He called Williams on Monday night and asked to get back together. When she said no, police said, he told her to "watch out."
Early Tuesday, Williams' Northeast Roanoke apartment was firebombed. And her ex-boyfriend, Aquilia Marcibicca Barnett, has been charged.
Now, investigators are trying to find him.
They have notified surrounding states to be on the lookout for Barnett, 23, who is from Charlotte, N.C. They have collected sketchy information about his getaway car: a Datsun with primer spots on the driver's side, tinted windows and North Carolina license plates.
And they have charged him with five felonies related to the incident at Williams' apartment: two counts of attempted murder, arson, manufacturing a firebomb, and felony property damage.
Williams and Benjamin Greene, both 23, escaped the flames through a second-story window in the back of the apartment.
Greene was not injured. But Williams was flown to the burn unit at the University of Virginia Health Science Center in Charlottesville. The fire severely burned her right arm as she was trying to get out the front door, which would not open, neighbors said. She also suffered large cuts to her chest, stomach, legs and knees.
Tuesday, Williams was in good condition, according to a hospital spokeswoman.
Residents describe the Keswick Apartments on Keswick Avenue Northeast, near the Roanoke Valley S.P.C.A. shelter, as quiet. But just before 4 a.m. Tuesday, gunshots and Williams' screams awakened neighbors.
"You know when you hear that you don't get up. I just laid there," said Maude Hubbard, 75, who lives next door to Williams.
Smoke awakened Williams and Greene. Police said that when the two looked outside, they saw Greene's car on fire. Someone had smashed the car's windows.
The couple also saw a man, whom they identified as Barnett, throw an object through an apartment window. The object ignited a couch in the living room, according to police and fire officials.
Detectives are still trying to determine exactly what was thrown at Williams' apartment. They believe it was similar to a Molotov cocktail - a glass bottle filled with fuel with a rag for a wick.
They said the man threw a second object at the window but it did not break the glass or set anything on fire.
Greene took a handgun from his duffle bag and fired three shots at the man, but apparently did not hit him. The man fled in his car, which had a passenger in the front seat. Police have not identified the passenger.
When police and firefighters arrived, Williams' living room was engulfed. Heat from the fire and smoke melted a television set, destroyed furniture and blackened window frames.
Tuesday afternoon, neighbors stayed home, trying to catch up on rest they had lost. Hubbard sat on a chair, mopping her kitchen floor and recounting the events during the early morning hours.
"I heard someone say, 'Help me! Help me!''' she said.
Williams had run to Hubbard's front door. Hubbard opened the door only after she heard Williams refer to her by her nickname, "Granny."
Investigators later discovered Hubbard's telephone line had been cut.
Tony St. Clair, who lives downstairs from Williams, said he often heard Williams arguing with her ex-boyfriend. He had called police on them three times in the past year.
"They'd stay fighting all the time," he said.
So on Tuesday morning, when he heard a woman scream, he thought nothing of it.
"Like I said, that was normal," he added.
As of late Tuesday, police said, Barnett had not been found.
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: CINDY PINKSTON/Staff. A firebomb severely damaged Robinby CNBWilliams' apartment early Tuesday. Police have charged an
ex-boyfriend, though he had not been found as of late Tuesday.