Police believe that a fire and building explosion may have been intentionally set after a 26-year-old man was found dead with multiple stab wounds inside a Queens penthouse.
Flames and smoke poured from the top of the six-floor apartment building on 41st Avenue in Woodside just before 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, police said.
One woman who lives in the building said the vibration from the blast shook her fifth-floor apartment, so she ran outside with just her phone and her wallet. That's when she realized the building was on fire, and the back wall had collapsed.
"There was a penthouse structure that appeared above the sixth floor, we have significant damage to the penthouse structure as well as the rear of the sixth floor," said FNDY Chief Thomas Currao. "We have a collapse, it's a very unstable situation right now."
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Investigators believe the fire was intentionally set, and found that Anesti Bulgaresti dead inside the penthouse. He had been stabbed multiple times, but it was not clear how he died.
Meanwhile, the others who live in the building were forced out and not allowed back inside. The American Red Cross said that they were assisting more than 40 people who have been left homeless as a result of the fire.
