A woman is being sought by NYPD on suspicion of setting a fire at a squatter residence that killed one man and left two injured and dozens homeless in The Bronx.
The NYPD released photos of the woman, who was captured Sunday on surveillance footage entering the illegally converted building on Evergreen Ave. near Westchester Ave. in the Soundview neighborhood. Shortly before the tragedy, the suspect entered with something in her hand, possibly a bottle, and left without having it, police said.
The fire started with an accelerant and swept through the two-story home around 1:55 p.m. Sunday. Two men, ages 30 and 32, suffered burns and smoke inhalation but were able to get out of the house.
A third person, who was not identified at the time, was discovered by firefighters unconscious on the second floor and pronounced dead at the scene.
The fire spread to an adjacent building before more than 100 firefighters could douse the flames, the city’s Department of Buildings (DOB) said Monday. Neither site was deemed safe for occupancy, and the agency issued eviction orders for the properties.
“It was a road to hell in there,” one neighbor told the Daily News Monday night. “A boarding house, more like a crack house.” “It was a drug house, and people were in and out of there at all hours, all the time,” another witness stated.
Records indicate that the house where the fire started should have been vacant. The DOB issued a full eviction order in 2018. But it was operating as an illegal boarding facility, records show.
The agency has issued building owners multiple violations that have resulted in fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The displaced residents were being relocated by the American Red Cross, the DOB said in a statement. They are about 17 people from 5 families, according to NY1 News.
Anyone with information about the requested woman should call 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) and, in Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). Also, via crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or by text message to 274637 (CRIMES), followed by TIP577. All communications are strictly confidential.
In a similar case, in November, Sugerys Ramirez (40) was burned alive inside an apartment she was squatting in Brooklyn. Last week Lashawn Duffie, 28, was arrested as a suspect in the homicide.