Amanda Sullivan
Fort Leonard Wood
While driving through Crocker, Mo., in the early morning hours of Jan. 23, Sgt. 1st Class Matt Mobley, noncommissioned officer in charge of range maintenance at the Combat Training Company, saw something in a gas station parking lot that caught his eye.
“I saw a car that had smoke coming out from underneath,” he said. “It was dark and I could see the smoke in my headlights.”
When he looked again, the front end of the vehicle burst into flames. He knew the situation was bad and turned around.
“I parked far away because the flames were at the gas station next to their big fuel tanks,” he said. “When I got up to the car, it was already engulfed in flames and I heard something. It was the individual inside trying to kick the windows out.”