The holidays seem to be bringing out the worst in people. A $2,000 unpaid debt caused a Brooklyn man to burn a woman alive in a New York City elevator Saturday afternoon.

Video from a surveillance camera shows a man with a dust mask, canister sprayer, and white gloves waiting inside of an elevator. When the doors opened, he began spraying 73-year-old  with the flammable liquid “sort of methodologically,” dousing her head and parts of her body, according to NYPD spokesman Paul Browne. The man then pulled out a barbecue-style lighter and used it to ignite a rag in a bottle. After waiting a few seconds as Gillespie crouched down trying to protect herself, he backed out of the elevator and tossed the flaming bottle inside.

Jerome Isaac, 47, later turned himself in to police, saying he set the woman on fire because she owed him $2,000 for some work he had done for her. A resident in the building recognized Isaac as a man who had lived with Gillespie for about six months last year and appeared to have been helping her out. After he moved out of Gillespie’s place, the resident said she started seeing Isaac on the street looking “a lot more disheveled” and pushing a cart full of aluminum cans.

Gillespie may have also been a bit disheveled herself. According to the same neighbor, she seemed a little off at times. “Some days she’d be very, very pleasant, and then the next time, she would almost ignore me,” he said. She also went through a period where she would place duct tape over her apartment door whenever she left. Luckily, Isaac was arrested Sunday on murder and arson charges so he can’t attack anyone else.

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

More on Madame Noire!

• Dead Three Years and Nobody Notices
• Kissing Frogs: Men Every Woman Dates Before Finding the One
• How to Avoid the 45 Year-Old ‘WTF-I’m-Still-Single’ Moment
• Unforgivable Hood Baby Names: Celebrity Edition
• 7 Leave-In Conditioners for Soft and Supple Hair
• This Ain’t VH1′s Version: The Real Real Football Wives of The NFL