By Rich Bockmann
A South Jamaica man apparently committed suicide Thursday when he climbed inside his car and set it on fire, neighbors and the Fire Department said.
The FDNY responded around 11:30 a.m. to a call of an automobile fire near the corner of 147th St. and 111th Ave. where the gray Ford Crown Victoria sat, its interior scorched with the victim’s corpse sitting in the driver’s seat.
Neighbors said the man, a 57-year old security guard, had made threats the day before that he would kill himself and left several suicide notes indicating he did not want to be a burden on others.
Florence Venzen, who for eight years rented him a room in the house she owned just across the street from where the man killed himself, said he was dealing with financial and medical difficulties.
“He said he was going to kill himself and he went and did it,” she said. The note he left behind read, “[I] can’t stand the pressure. I don’t want to be a burden,” Venzen said. “He should have never done something like that. It’s senseless, uncalled for.”
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
