Mike on Crime

By Colleen Long
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — New York detectives investigating a fire that killed five Guatemalan immigrants over the weekend declared the blaze an arson Monday and urged neighbourhood witnesses to come forward, regardless of their legal status.
A man who escaped the building in the city’s Brooklyn borough hesitated coming forward because he feared he would be deported, officials said. Police detective Louis Yero said investigators were working with a pastor who is acting as a liaison between investigators and possible witnesses.
A motive remained unclear in the blaze, the city’s deadliest since a 2007 fire killed 10 people, nine of them children, in the Bronx. Saturday’s blaze is believed to have started near the front door.
Accidental fires don’t usually spark behind front doors, where there are few electrical sockets or other potential fire hazards, Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano said. Tests for accelerants were incomplete.
Four men and a woman, all Guatemalan immigrants, died Saturday. The victims’ residency status isn’t clear.
Luisa Chan, the only victim identified so far, and her husband, Miguel, who escaped, tried to lower their 2-month-old daughter, Maria, out of a window in a car seat, but the baby fell out and suffered a fractured skull. She remained in critical condition Monday but was expected to survive.
Their 2-year-old son, Josias, survived. Chan tearfully told reporters at a church service that his wife’s final words were to “take care of our son and daughter.”
Positive identification has not been made on the other victims.