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KCMO woman accused of torching sister's car

KCMO woman accused of torching sister's car
KCMO woman accused of torching sister's car
Posted at 6:09 PM, Apr 21, 2017
and last updated 2017-04-21 19:51:16-04

A woman is accused of scorching her sister’s car after trying to set the house on fire.

KCPD’s Bomb and Arson Squad responded to the 7100 block of Woodland Avenue Wednesday evening. 

“I didn't think she would take it this far not at all and she didn't need to,” Kiara Gooden told 41 Action News in an interview Friday. 

She is still contemplating how her own sister could have done so much damage.

“Every time I see it [the car] it reminds me of what happened. I just I can't believe it,” Gooden said.

According to Gooden, her sister Tanisha Bland showed up at her house demanding money around 10:30 p.m.

“I wasn't going to an ATM in the middle of the night, no,” Gooden said.

Police officers showed up and they sent Bland away because no crime occurred. But a short time later Gooden and law enforcement said the 32-year-old woman returned to Gooden's house with a squirt-bottle filled with gasoline. 

“I looked out, saw a patch of fire right there by my car and so I'm looking at her and I'm like what is she doing, and I see her drizzling more gasoline up to my front door and next thing you know she grabs the stick here it's the front door when she hits the front door the first time and I grab my phone and called 911,” Gooden said. 

“She is arming herself with a knife and will be waiting for officers and the fire department in the backyard. She's trying to stay away from her sister,” a dispatcher told officers over the radio that night. 

As Gooden waited prosecutors said the sister scorched Gooden’s car by busting out the windows and lighting the inside on fire.

Gooden’s boyfriend tried to put it out with a garden hose. 

“It could have caught this house on fire and that house on fire. I’m glad he did some quick thinking there but I was worried for him,” Gooden said. 

Her car is a total loss; she's looking for a new one. In the meantime her neighbors have been helping her get to and from her job as a cashier at a grocery store.

The Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office charged Bland with one count of knowingly burning or exploding.

Bland made her first court appearance Friday afternoon. Her next court hearing is May 4 at 9 a.m.

Bland’s bond is set for $25,000.