A Georgia homeowner has recounted how a quick-thinking passerby saved him from his burning home last month by kicking down a locked storm door to pull him to safety.

David McConnell told FOX5 Atlanta that he was taking a nap in his Winterville home on the afternoon of Oct. 29 when a noise from the kitchen woke him up.

“I heard some popping and snapping and crackling,” McConnell said, adding that he went back to sleep thinking the sound would go away.

McConnell only realized something was wrong when the fire alarm went off. He told the outlet that he jumped out of bed and found thick smoke engulfing the inside of his home.

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“You could not see out my backdoor or my window,” McConnell said. “That was pretty scary.”

McConnel said he tried to exit the home through his front door but found the storm door locked.

Fire officials said that the roof collapsed when first responders arrived. (Athens-Clarke County Fire Department)

Dylan Betts, a good Samaritan who was driving by on his way home from work, stopped when he saw the smoke and raced to help.

“I ripped off and then kicked it in,” Betts said of the locked storm door. 

No injuries were reported as a result of the fire. (Athens-Clarke County Fire Department)

Betts said he stepped inside the home through a “thick wall of black smoke” and called out.

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“Mr. David, luckily, heard my voice, and he came right to me,” Betts told FOX5. 

The fire was believed to have started in the garage before spreading throughout the home. (Athens-Clarke County Fire Department)

When the outlet asked Betts why he risked his life to save a stranger, Betts responded, “Why not? That’s America.”

McConnell said that his family calls Betts “our hero,” and even gave Betts tickets to a Georgia/Tennessee football game as a small thank you for saving his life.

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The Athens-Clarke County Fire Department said the fire originated in the garage and spread throughout the structure, according to the station. Firefighters arrived to find deteriorating conditions, including a roof collapse. No injuries were reported.

Jose Ibarra, the suspect charged with murdering Augusta University student Laken Riley on the University of Georgia campus in February, is “fast-tracking himself to life” in prison by choosing a bench trial over a jury trial, according to Georgia-based criminal defense attorney Philip Holloway.

Ibarra, 26, allegedly attacked and murdered Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, while she was jogging along highly frequented pedestrian trails on UGA’s campus on the morning of Feb. 22.

Holloway told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that he does not “understand the tactics” of Ibarra’s defense asking for a bench trial over a jury trial on Tuesday, which state prosecutors agreed to and Judge Patrick Haggard granted. Ibarra’s trial is now scheduled to begin on Friday instead of Monday, when a jury trial would have taken place.

“He’s fast-tracking himself to life without parole by doing this,” Holloway said. “It certainly will speed things up. … From a legal perspective, I don’t know why the defense would do this.”

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Holloway added that by choosing a bench trial, Ibarra is giving away his “Hail Mary shot” at “getting a juror” to question his guilt. In other words, instead of having the possibility of a single juror questioning the evidence presented against Ibarra and resulting in a mistrial, the murder suspect has instead chosen to present evidence before a judge who will then decide his fate.

Holloway added that the “evidence of guilt is overwhelming” in Ibarra’s murder case. 

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Laken Riley was found dead near a lake on campus on Feb. 22, 2024. (Laken Riley/Facebook)

“The evidentiary presentation is going to be much faster” with a bench trial, the criminal defense attorney said, and the prosecution and defense may even choose to forgo opening and closing statements like they would in a jury trial because it is not necessary in a bench trial.

Ibarra and his brothers, also in the United States illegally from Venezuela, lived in an apartment building on the edge of the on-campus park where Riley was running. Ibarra allegedly murdered the aspiring nurse in what UGA Police Chief Jeffrey Clark described as a “crime of opportunity.”

Jose Ibarra appears in court for a pretrial evidence hearing in Athens, Ga., on Nov. 1, 2024. (Robin Rayne for Fox News Digital)

In May, a Georgia grand jury indicted Ibarra on counts of malice murder, two counts of kidnapping with bodily injury, two counts of aggravated assault with intent to rape, two counts of aggravated battery, obstructing or hindering a person from making a 911 call, tampering with evidence and being a “peeping Tom.”

The peeping Tom charge stems from another Feb. 22 incident in which the suspect allegedly went to a residence on UGA’s campus in Athens and “peeped through” a window and “spied upon” a university staff member, according to the indictment.

Laken Riley was a nursing student at Augusta University. (Allyson Phillips/Facebook)

Ibarra recently tried to have the “peeping Tom” charge removed from his case, but prosecutors argued that the two incidents are “inextricably intertwined,” and Haggard ultimately decided not to sever the charge. 

The judge is also permitting DNA and cellphone evidence that Ibarra’s defense wanted to suppress.

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This is a general view of the area where Laken Riley’s body was found near Lake Herrick on the University of Georgia’s campus in Athens on Feb. 24, 2024. (Mark Sims for Fox News Digital)

The 26-year-old suspect is due back in court on Nov. 15 for his trial. Jury selection for his trial was scheduled to begin on Wednesday, Nov. 13, before he requested a bench trial.

Ibarra illegally crossed into the United States through El Paso, Texas, in September 2022 and was released into the U.S. via parole, ICE and DHS sources previously told Fox News. His older brother, Diego Ibarra, is charged with green card fraud and had ties to a known Venezuelan gang in the U.S. called Tren de Aragua, according to federal court documents.

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Diego Ibarra is shown posing with multiple handguns on his social media accounts, according to court filings. (Middle District of Georgia)

Riley’s death was frequently mentioned throughout the 2024 presidential election as Republicans and Democrats debated the implications of record illegal immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border over the last four years.

Rachel Morin of Maryland, Jocelyn Nungaray of Texas, Lizbeth Medina of Texas, Ruby Garcia of Michigan and Maria Gonzalez of Texas are females allegedly killed by illegal immigrants over the past two years.

Two people were killed and “several other individuals were also injured” as a result of an explosion at the Givaudan Sense Colour Factory in Louisville, Kentucky on Tuesday afternoon, the company confirmed in a statement to Fox News.

Kentucky officials said during a news conference the explosion happened around 3 p.m. in the 1900 block of Payne Street. According to local outlet WLKY, the factory specializes in food coloring and is located in the city’s Clifton neighborhood.

It was earlier reported that at least 11 employees were taken to hospitals.

“We are grieving with the families, friends, and loved ones of those that were lost and injured during this very difficult time,” a statement from a Givaudan Flavors Corp. spokesman said. “City leaders have stated there is no ongoing threat to those in the immediate proximity or the surrounding community.”

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Aerial images showed smoke rising from the damaged building, which had a structural collapse. The inside of the building was also visible in a gaping hole caused by the explosion.

“Once our firefighters arrived, they did make an aggressive interior attack,” Fire Chief Brian O’Neill said. “We had one person that was pinned. We were able to get them out, rescue them, as well as assist the others in evacuation.”

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The reported explosion took place in Louisville Tuesday. (WDRB)

O’Neill added that officials were monitoring the air and that there was no sign of “any type of chemical problems in the air.”

Givaudan’s statement said there were reports of damaged homes and buildings near the factory, and that the company is “supporting those impacted.”

“The house is still standing. It’s just structural damage. If it was on a wall, it’s on the floor,” Patrick Livers, who lives in a neighborhood immediately across the railroad tracks from the plant, told the Associated Press. “All the neighbors’ windows busted out, doors blown in. It looked like a small tornado went off inside the house.”

He was at work when his mother, who had picked up his children from school and was bringing them home, called to say his home had been damaged by the explosion.

WLKY reports the explosion took place at the Givaudan Sense Colour plant. (Google Maps)

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said in a statement Tuesday night officials have accounted for everyone who was working at the plant at the time.

He added officials spoke to employees inside the plant and they “initially conveyed that everything was normal activity when the explosion occurred.”

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The cause of the explosion is under investigation.

“Our priority right now is on our team members, the families of those we have lost and those that were injured in this accident,” Givaudan’s statement says. “We are in touch with them, and committed to supporting them in the coming days and weeks.”

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Curto, Melissa Summers and the Associated Press contributed to this report.