A cold-hearted criminal had been caught on camera grinning few moments before investigators said that he committed a heinous crime.

Capt. Daniel Curry of the Los Angeles Fire Department said, “In broad daylight, this person walks up, pours gasoline all over this person and her belongings and then sets her on fire, very egregious crime,"

The victim was a mother of seven. She was on life support fighting to recover. Family members said that the  47 years old Tabitha Morton suffered extensive burns in the vicious attack.

It happened on June 12 in an alley near Vernon Avenue and Avalon Boulevard in South Los Angeles.

Curry said, “we believe that they were in some type of verbal dispute. He left, he went to the store. He bought a small amount of gasoline. He returns to where she is"

The suspect was caught on the store's surveillance camera just before the crime.

Investigators with LAFD's arson unit said that several witnesses saw the suspect set Morton on fire. They rushed to save her life as he normally walked away.

Authorities might know what the suspect looks like but the were expecting that the public could help identify him. Known on the street as "Boo-Boo," investigators wanted to track him down before anyone else was hurt.

Curry said, "It's hard to say whether he's done this before, but once once someone has shown the capability of doing this, we certainly expect him to do it again,"

By Prakriti Neog