A legislator from a Virginia city was taken to the hospital after being covered in gasoline and ignited while at work on Wednesday, as reported by the Danville Police Department (DPD).
The DPD disclosed in a Facebook post that the individual accused, named as Shotsie Michael Buck Hayes, 29, faces charges of “attempted first-degree murder and aggravated malicious wounding” post allegations of him covering Danville City Councilman Lee Vogler “with a flammable liquid” before setting him ablaze.
The suspect is “being held in the Danville City Jail under no bond,” the police department said in the Facebook post.
DPD officers were called to respond around 11:30 a.m. following reports of a male victim being “set on fire.” Vogler was subsequently airlifted to a “regional medical facility for treatment.”
“According to information from witnesses at the location, the suspect entered the victim’s workplace, confronted him, and covered him in a flammable liquid,” the police department stated. “The victim and suspect exited the premises, whereupon the suspect proceeded to ignite the victim.”
Following the act of setting Vogler on fire, the suspect “fled the scene,” according to the police department’s post, which noted that a witness had provided a description of the “suspect and his vehicle.”
“Officers discovered and halted the vehicle a few blocks away from where the incident took place, and the driver was taken into custody without incident,” the police department further elaborated.
3:55 p.m. 7/30/25 UPDATE: The Danville Police Department has charged Shotsie Michael Buck Hayes, 29, with attempted…
Posted by Danville VA Police Department on Wednesday, July 30, 2025
In a video on Facebook, Andrew Brooks, the publisher and owner of Showcase Magazine, revealed that an individual “forced his way” into the office of the magazine, “carrying a five-gallon bucket of gasoline,” and had reportedly poured the gasoline on Vogler.
“Today, our co-worker Lee Vogler was attacked in our office,” Brooks said. “An individual forced his way into our office, carrying a five-gallon bucket of gasoline, and poured the gasoline on Lee. Lee attempted to flee, ran to the front of the building, the individual followed him and set him on fire.”
Brooks added that Vogler “identified his attacker,” and added that Vogler was reportedly “awake and talking and in route to the burn center in Lynchburg.”
“This type of senseless act of violence has to stop,” Brooks added. “You do not have the right, as a human being to get upset with someone enough to lash out and attempt to harm them in any way, much less this way.”
In response to the incident, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) and Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R) expressed that they are praying for Vogler.
“Our prayers go out to Danville City Councilman Lee Vogler who was violently attacked at his workplace earlier today,” Youngkin wrote in a post on X. “We pray for a swift recovery for Lee and peace to be on the entire Danville community.”
“Please join me in praying for Councilman Lee Vogler and for his family,” Earle-Sears wrote in a post on X. “We stand with Danville and support a full investigation into this attack. Violence is never the answer and must be condemned.”
“I know Lee Vogler,” Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares wrote in a post on X. “He is a good friend and an even greater city councilman for Danville. Violence in the pursuit of the political is the definition of domestic terrorism. Even the mere threat of violence is terrorism — and we should all condemn it together.”
