A West Harris County woman described the defiant behavior of a man accused of setting fire to her home while wielding a sword. Jackie Gray recounted that her surveillance system detected motion around 4 p.m. on Wednesday, prompting her to investigate outside.
Video footage shows Gray’s neighbor, Phi Le Nguyen, approaching her house with a gasoline can. Gray said she discovered the can smoldering, placed against the side of her home.
“I just saw you, and I got cameras,” Gray tells Nguyen in the video.
“Yeah? What you gonna do?” he retorts defiantly.
Before heading to Gray’s residence, footage reveals Nguyen visiting another neighbor’s home with a gasoline can, which was later set ablaze. Both Gray and her neighbor managed to extinguish the fires, but surveillance shows Nguyen returning to Gray’s property to pour gasoline on her driveway, seemingly attempting to ignite a second fire.
“He actually started pouring it under my truck and then all over the driveway,” Gray explained.
Afterward, Nguyen can be seen standing at the end of Gray’s driveway, sword in hand, and at one point, he swings it, nearly striking Gray.
“He was holding the sword up, like he was going to charge at me,” she said.
When Harris County deputies arrived, they also encountered Nguyen’s aggression.
Nguyen faces aggravated assault charges for threatening Gray and a deputy. “He went into his garage, still swinging at the officers, and that’s when they used a Taser to subdue him,” Gray recounted.
Since Friday, Nguyen’s bond has increased to $200,000. He is scheduled to appear in court Monday morning.
