Man charged with murder, accused of setting fiance’s mobile home on fire in Gastonia

UPDATE:

The man accused of setting his fiancés mobile home on fire in Gaston County has been released from the hospital and is now in jail. Police say 35-year-old Shawn Christenbury set the home on fire on Sunday, December 1st. Christenbury’s fiance and her baby were able to escape but the woman’s father was trapped inside and died.

Christenbury is currently in the Gaston County jail and is being held without bond.

ORIGINAL STORY (12/03/24):

GASTONIA, NC – A man is dead following a house fire that police say was set on purpose.

Gaston County Police were called to a mobile home on Brian Circle in Gastonia just after 8pm on Sunday.

Brittney Smith told WCCB Charlotte that her fiancé came home drunk and tried to get inside her mobile home.

She says he started the fire trapping her partially paralyzed father inside.  Smith says she was able to get herself and her baby out of the burning mobile home, but her father died.

The man accused of starting the fire is in the hospital being treated for injuries from the fire.

Shawn Christenberry is being charged with First Degree Murder, two counts of First Degree Attempted Murder, and First Degree Arson.

Police say the warrants will be served once he’s released from the hospital.