The NYPD says the 15-year-old girl who allegedly committed arson in Soundview was seen with butane and a lighter at the time of the fire last month, according to the criminal complaint filed in Bronx County Court.
Det. Manuel Figueroa said that through video surveillance and witness testimony, the NYPD believes the girl did “knowingly and unlawfully” enter the house at 1211 Evergreen Ave. on Jan. 29 while in possession of a can of butane and lighter. The complaint says the teen, whose name has been redacted from the document and has not released by the cops due to her age, obtained a can of lighter fluid and set the house ablaze.
The two-alarm fire in Soundview drew 106 firefighters from 25 units, and was deemed under control within about an hour on Jan. 29. The blaze killed one person inside the house, 27-year-old Abdoukarim Sakolly, and injured two others.
The 15-year-old was arrested the same day as the fire and charged with murder, assault, arson, reckless endangerment, and criminal mischief.
Patrice O’Shaughnessy, the director of communications for the Bronx District Attorney’s Office, told the Bronx Times last week that the teen was held without bail after her arraignment on Feb. 5. She said a motive and relationship with the victims remains unclear. She’s scheduled to appear in court next on March 8.
It was the third major fire in five days at the end of January — following a four-alarm event at a Wakefield apartment building and preceding a three-alarm basement blaze in the Crotona Park East neighborhood.
There have also already been three major fires in the Bronx this month, including one marked “suspicious” at a high-rise in Claremont Village on Feb. 6 and a five-alarm blaze inside of a C-Town Supermarket in Morris Heights on Feb. 9.
The most recent was this week — a three-alarm fire that tore through four houses and injured two firefighters in Little Yemen on Monday.
Bronxites grapple with January’s legacy of devastating burns
This story was updated on Feb. 15 at 4:28 p.m. to include additional information from Patrice O’Shaughnessy.
