14 yearold kid torches family and kills himself as well
Cops: 14-Year-Old Torched Family, Killed Himself
Say Staten Island Blaze Was Set Intentionally; Razor Blade Found Under Teen's Body In Separate Room Reporting
John Slattery STATEN ISLAND (CBS) ― Click to enlarge1 of 1
Five people were killed when a fire broke out on Staten Island Thursday.
CBS
CBS 2 HD has learned that the fire that killed a mother and her four children on Thursday morning on Staten Island was intentionally set by the woman's 14-year-old son in a murder-suicide.
What was already a tragedy is now even worse after the five victims were found dead in a fire that police and FDNY officials said moved extremely fast.
Fire officials initially suspected that the fire was caused by arson, but it wasn't until officials examined the victims' bodies that they were able to determine murder-suicide. Two of the victims' throats were slashed.
They believe that the oldest child, a 14-year-old boy, set the fire that killed the others and then turned a razor blade on himself. He was found in another room with his throat slit and the blade under his body.
The blaze ripped through the second floor of a two-story, four-unit building on Nicholas Avenue.
"The flames were just shooting high up in the air," neighbor Richard Panek said.
Three families got out, including Nicholas Cotton's.
"It was coming in the other side, through the bathroom. At that point, I just closed the door because the flames coming out. Then I went inside, I got my wife and the kids, and we all went downstairs," Cotton said.
One family, though, did not get out.
The victims were 32-year-old Lisa Jones, and her four children: 14-year-old son C.J. Jones, 7-year-old Melanie Jones, 10-year-old Brittney Jones and 2-year-old Jermaine Sinclair.
The three younger children attended a daycare run by Jackie Brooks.
"They were loving, sweet, kind children, very mannerly, just full of life," Brooks said.
Their lives ended just after 4 a.m. Thursday, when the fire raced through their apartment, and into the attic and roof. It was a three-alarm blaze in which fire officials said there was no evidence of a smoke detector.
"We keep trying to remind people that a simple $10-$15 smoke detector could have made a difference in saving five lives here," FDNY Commissioner Salvatore Cassano said.
Neighbors said Jones, a single mother, was taking classes to become a beautician.
"She was the most loving person in the world," friend Shaquana Meaders said. "She was kind-hearted, she was sweet, she was caring, she loved her kids."
The Fire Department said it will continue to investigate the blaze.