November 23rd 2023.
Early Tuesday morning, firefighters responded to a devastating fire at the Countryside Apartments in Daytona Beach, Florida. Upon arrival, they were faced with heavy smoke and flames, and discovered a mother-of-three stabbed to death inside the apartment.
The firefighters rushed her three children to a hospital in critical condition, but the youngest, an infant, was found in a crib close to the mother and died. The two other children, aged 4 and 5, survived, but the nature of their injuries and conditions were not immediately known.
At the scene, Daytona Beach police Chief Jakari Young declared, “This is a horrific incident two days out from a holiday that centers around family.” The mother’s identity has not been released, pending notification to her family.
The fire, which started around midnight, is being investigated as a homicide due to two points of origin in the home, according to Daytona Beach Fire Department Lt Antwan Lewis. State investigators suspect the blaze was set off intentionally.
A police officer received treatment for smoke inhalation, but no suspect has been named yet. Chief Young praised the officers and firefighters for their brave actions, saying “If it wasn’t for their actions, there probably would have been more lives lost.” The extent of the damage to other units at the apartment complex is not yet clear.
This deadly blaze comes just a few months after a similar incident in New York. A landlord allegedly set fire to an apartment because the tenants stopped paying rent, prompting the parents to toss four of their children to neighbors on the ground in order to save them. Firefighters rescued the two other children from the building. The landlord, Rafiqul Islam, 66, was charged with eight counts of attempted murder, assault and arson earlier this month.
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