Trinidad Garza said she heard a thump and woke up.
Worried, the 93-year-old peered out of the window trying to see where the noise was coming from.
Outside the window, she saw her friend, 70-year-old Benito Resendez on fire.
She rushed outside to put the flames out with her bare hands, but it wasn’t enough to save Resendez who died a short while later.
Garza suspects he lit himself on fire because he was going through a depression.
According to Garza, Resendez did not have a lot of contact with his family and he was having a hard time dealing with that.
“I yelled look at Benito he is burning up,” said Garza. “I started to rub up and down to put the fire out until the fire turned off, but then he died and fell.”
Garza met Resendez about eight years ago at La Posada Adult Day Care. She let him sleep on her porch after building trust with him and after building trust, her family let him sleep inside the house where he was given a room.
She said just that morning, they were eating breakfast and he was laughing and smiling.
Resendez was pronounced dead at the scene. McAllen police are not sure if the accident was intentional or accidental.
The case is still under investigation.
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