A teenage girl has been blamed for sparking a Bronx fire last week that claimed the life of a 27-year-old man and left another covered in serious burns.
The NYPD announced Sunday the arrest of a 15-year-old for the deadly Jan. 29 Soundview arson. The suspect, not identified due to her age, faces charges of murder, assault, arson, reckless endangerment and criminal mischief.
Believed to be a runaway from upstate New York, police officials suspect the 15-year-old knew people in the building she allegedly set ablaze and may have had a dispute with them. However, it does not appear she had a connection to Abdoukarium Sakolly, 27, who died from injuries sustained in the fire.
Firefighters responded to the residential building on Evergreen Avenue last Sunday afternoon. The fire started around 2 p.m.
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Surveillance video apparently captured the teen, who police previously described as a person of interest, seen walking around the home before leaving and tucking something in her coat. Investigators said they suspected it may have been a bottle of lighter fluid.
Moments before the fire broke out, she was seen walking off.
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Bekaye Toure suffered serious burns across his face and hands. The Bronx man said he is thankful to be alive after towering flames nearly killed him.
"I was asleep and then I see a lot of smoke in my room coming from the other room, so I tried to open the door and the flame came through and I had to run through the window -- the ceiling fell on me," he said.
Video also showed Toure sliding down the roof of his apartment building to escape the inferno. It also captured a number of good Samaritans doing what they could to help pull him to safety.
Investigators were quick to call the fire "suspicious," but further details of its origin are unknown.
