10-Year-Old Texan Girl Hailed Hero After Saving Grandmother Set On Fire By Ex-Boyfriend

A 10-year-old Texan girl is being hailed as a hero after she saved her grandmother who was allegedly set on fire by her abusive ex-boyfriend.

Family members said that Deborah Romo, 57, was in an abusive relationship with Roberto Cocolan, 43, KSAT reported.

Romo, a certified nursing assistant, got into an argument with Cocolan around 8 p.m. after returning from work on Aug. 31.

Romo’s granddaughter, 10-year-old Nevaeh Gallegos, heard the altercation. "I saw my grandma go put on her pajamas and Robert went to take a shower. My grandma was sitting on the couch and Robert started arguing about his truck keys," the girl told the outlet.

According to Gallegos, things got quiet but then she heard her grandmother screaming. She said she witnessed Cocolan pouring gasoline on Romo and then using a lighter to ignite her.

"He was standing and pouring gasoline on her, and she started crying. I pushed him and tried to hit him, but he still continued doing it. She was trying to take off her clothes because the fire was on her," Gallegos was cited as saying by KWTX.

The girl said she could not see anything as smoke filled the room. Then, Romo told her granddaughter to run next door and get her uncle to help. She then grabbed her 2-year-old sister, covered her face to prevent smoke inhalation and ran to seek help, the report said.

According to the family, Cocolan had cut off the water supply to the house so they had to use leftover water in a mop bucket to extinguish the fire.

Romo remains in the hospital with second and third-degree burns. About 35 percent of her body was burned. "She has burns from [her] face, ears, arms, all the way down," Romo’s daughter Ambeer Vega was cited as saying by KWTX.

"I want him to sit in there, and I want him to suffer the way my mom having to sit there in the hospital and go through that pain," Vega added. The family said Cocolan was abusive but they did not expect it to escalate to this deadly extent.

Cocolan was arrested and faces charges of arson and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon causing serious bodily injury. His bond has been set at $500,000.