Suicidal Texas Man Sets His Car On Fire, Blows 2 Cops Backwards, Burns Himself (Crazy Footage Inside)

Video inside

(KVUE) AUSTIN -- Two police officers and the driver of a vehicle were injured in a car fire in Southeast Austin early Tuesday morning.

Police said the man called 911 saying he planned to commit suicide by setting himself and his car on fire.

Officers arrived at the Texaco Gas Station at Interstate 35 and Stassney Lane around 2 a.m. and found 47-year-old Andrew Guerrero outside the car. Officers said they asked him to come over, but he instead rushed inside the car that had apparently been doused in combustible substance.

As the two officers tried to get him out, police said Guerrero lit a cigarette lighter, causing the car to explode. The force of the explosion knocked one officer back five feet and hurled the suspect out of the car, but he got back in. Investigators said that was a clear sign that he wanted to commit suicide.

"I think people have this misinformation that it's just going to be this little fire and the smoke's going to put you to sleep or kill you. Whatever they want to do, but you see by the violence in that video that those gasoline vapors or whatever hydrocarbon vapors were in there, they fill that entire car up and that car got hot quick," said Austin Fire Department Capt. Andy Reardon. "We're talking thousands of degrees inside there. You saw the force it created right there, so for him to get back in the car like that, to do that he was very dedicated on killing himself."

But Guerrero didn't stay in the car long. He got back out and officers pulled him away from the car.

The Austin Fire Department issued a warrant for first-degree felony arson Wednesday. Guerrero is currently being treated at a burn center in San Antonio and AFD is coordinating with the hospital to get him arrested.

The two officers who were near the car suffered minor injuries. One officer was transported to the hospital for treatment. He has been released.