Berkeley: Man gets 7 years for firebombing man’s head with gasoline

OAKLAND — A Berkeley man was sentenced to seven years in state prison for dousing a man’s head in gasoline and setting it on fire in what police called a random attack.

Bradley Marcrum, 26, pleaded no contest to assault with a deadly weapon in a deal with Alameda County prosecutors, who dismissed attempted murder charges against him. He was given credit for about two years behind bars and sent to Avenal State Prison in April, records show.

Marcrum was arrested and charged in late June 2023 after the attack near University Avenue and Bonar Street. Police said at the time that he doused a 68-year-old man’s head in gasoline and set it on fire, seemingly choosing the victim at random. The man suffered serious burns and required skin grafts, but survived.

A day earlier, Marcrum was placed in a mental health hold in San Francisco after he threatened to jump off a building. He was briefly hospitalized but released after a psychological evaluation determined he wasn’t a threat to himself or others, according to authorities.

Marcrum was identified as a suspect because surveillance footage from a nearby Shell gas station showed him purchasing $10 of gasoline and putting it into a red one-gallon container, while wearing clothes similar to those described by eyewitnesses to the attack, police said.