Georgetown man charged with attempted murder, arson

A Georgetown man is accused of setting fire to a house while his girlfriend and three other people were inside, authorities said.

He later tried to kill himself. The incident began late Saturday after an argument over a cell phone.

Larry Dingle, 32, of Georgetown was arrested a little after 1 a.m. Sunday morning after police talked him down from the Maryville Bridge, where he was threatening to jump to his death.

Dingle has been charged with arson and four counts of attempted murder.

Dingle's girlfriend called the police to her Lafayette Street home about 11:30 p.m. Saturday after the couple started arguing about an issue related to her cell phone, said Sgt. Kyle Walton with the Georgetown City Police. The woman told police Dingle broke her phone, but she was able to put it back together to call them.

No arrests were made during the first visit to the home, according to police records.

At 12:20 a.m., police and fire officials were called back to the home at 118 Lafayette St. for a report of a fire.

The blaze had been started at the back of the home and caused heavy smoke and flame damage as well as minor damage to a neighboring house, Walton said.

When the fire department arrived, the four people who were at home at the time were standing outside.

None of them was injured during the fire. Walton said he could not identify those people or say what their relationship was to Dingle or his girlfriend.

As firefighters worked to put out the blaze, Walton said witnesses identified Dingle as starting the fire.

A few minutes after the description was sent out, Walton and Cpl. Shep Bone found Dingle standing on a streetlight platform on the Maryville Bridge.

Dingle told police he wanted to jump into the Sampit River and that he was suicidal. Officers from the U.S. Coast Guard's Georgetown station were dispatched to the bridge for a water rescue if needed.

Walton said he and Bone began talking to Dingle, slowly coaxing him to step off the platform and onto the bridge.

"It took about 45 minutes to convince him to step down," Walton said.

"There were ... some tense moments."

Dingle was taken to Georgetown Memorial Hospital for a mental evaluation because of the suicide threats. After the evaluation, he was taken to the Georgetown County Detention Center. Dingle was scheduled to have a bond hearing Sunday, but details of the hearing were not available from detention center personnel Monday afternoon.