KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A Knoxville woman faces an aggravated arson charge, accused of deliberately starting a fire in her South Knoxville apartment that forced a woman inside to jump from a second-floor window and caused damage to several surrounding units, a warrant states.
Kelli D. Hoffman, 42, set the fire Monday afternoon because she was "upset with people being inside her apartment" on Cook Drive in the Montgomery Village housing development, a warrant states.
She faces one count of aggravated arson, records show.
According to the warrant, a witness told police Hoffman got a gas can from the kitchen and poured the contents on the living room couch. She set it on fire with a lighter.
A woman was upstairs asleep in the apartment at the time when she was awakened by the sound of someone screaming and cursing and the sound of smoke alarms going off.
She tried to get out by the staircase but couldn't because of smoke and fire, the warrant states. She went back into the bedroom and jumped from a second-floor window, suffering "significant injuries" when she hit the ground.
The fire damaged a total of six apartments, according to the warrant.
One of the people who had been in Hoffman's apartment pointed her out to police as the source of the blaze. Hoffman then was arrested.
