MONETTE -- An explosion in a shed that killed a Monette man and injured a Craighead County sheriff's deputy July 25 was deliberately set, according to an Arkansas fire marshal's investigation.
Jamie Lisk, 43, died when a small shed in his backyard exploded with him locked inside. Craighead County Deputy Garland Tipton, who was checking on Lisk after Lisk's wife called authorities, received minor injuries in the blast.
Police said Jacklyn Lisk called police after Lisk locked himself inside the shed and said he was going to fix a window.
When Tipton arrived, he asked Jacklyn Lisk for a key. The 12-foot-by-14-foot wood and metal shed then exploded, said Arthur Raff, an investigator with the state fire marshal's office.
Authorities found one of Lisk's shoes 10 feet north of the shed and a bit of cloth from Lisk's shirt across the street from his Virginia Street home.
Lisk's wife said she heard Lisk ask Tipton to "shoot him" after the explosion.
Lisk was taken to a Memphis hospital with second- and third-degree burns on 90 percent of his body. He died later that day.
Raff reported that the shed had no power or ignition source, and the blast was the result of Lisk pouring a flammable liquid in the shed and igniting it.
"The fire is ruled incendiary," Raff wrote in his report.
Tipton returned to duty shortly after being treated at a Jonesboro hospital, Craighead County Sheriff Marty Boyd said.
State Desk on 08/24/2017