{"id":341495,"date":"2026-07-15T23:52:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T23:52:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/341495\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T23:52:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T23:52:35","slug":"murderer-admits-to-setting-man-on-fire-at-tampa-gas-station-gets-40-year-sentence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/341495\/","title":{"rendered":"Murderer admits to setting man on fire at Tampa gas station, gets 40-year sentence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Related video: Previous coverage of the 2023 incident where a man was set on fire.<\/p>\n

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) \u2014 A man has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder following a 2023 incident<\/a> at a Tampa gas station where he doused another man with gasoline and lit him on fire.<\/p>\n

The 60-year-old victim’s family was in court Tuesday as Earl Hargrove Jr. accepted responsibility for the crime, the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office said.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Tampa family’s apartment robbed by fake utility worker, 13-year-old zip-tied: DOJ indictment\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Earl<\/p>\n

Earl Hargrove Jr. pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree murder after lighting a man on fire at a Tampa gas station. (Credit: Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office)<\/p>\n

The victim suffered severe burns and died in the hospital<\/a> weeks after the violent assault.<\/p>\n

Investigators said it started with an argument between Hargrove and the victim on May 28, 2023, at the Mobil gas station on North 22nd Street.<\/p>\n

At some point during the incident, Hargrove bought 50 cents worth of gasoline, poured it on the 60-year-old, and set him on fire.<\/p>\n

Sheriff Chad Chronister released multiple statements in the aftermath, saying he was “deeply saddened by the tragic loss of life” and calling Hargove’s actions “deplorable.”<\/p>\n

After his guilty plea, Hargrove was sentenced to 40 years in prison followed by 10 years of probation, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n

“Our hearts remain with [the victim’s family] as they continue to grieve this loss,” the state attorney’s office said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

\u00a0For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Related video: Previous coverage of the 2023 incident where a man was set on fire. TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[140244,1288,135,137,136,140245],"class_list":["post-341495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-earl-hargrove-jr","tag-gas-station","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-victims-family"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}