Southwest Baltimore Residents Distressed Over Child Who Died In Fire
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Homicide detectives and arson investigators are digging deeper into what sparked a fire that left a child dead in Southwest Baltimore on Friday evening.
Neighbors told WJZ on Saturday they could not believe what happened. The death of a child about three or four years old has rattled their community.
The local firefighters' union said a mattress had caught fire.
Homicide detectives were asked to investigate the incident and arson investigators have been working alongside them.
"I just can't believe it. . . . I was heartbroken," neighborhood resident Alira Gourdine said.
Gourdine noted that the number of police cars, detectives, fire department vehicles, and people gathering around made the environment chaotic.
Another neighbor, Tracy Howard, said her kids rode to school with the children who lived in the house where the fire happened.
The death of a child is devastating, she said.
"She was a single mom with two kids but I thought she had moved, so I don't know," Howard said. "She had just stopped working out at the airport and she was looking for another job."
One person told WJZ that earlier in the week, they saw people from the home getting into a moving van with children.
"I saw a U-Haul van with three people coming out… I thought I saw two kids," said the neighbor who wanted to remain anonymous.
The cause of the fire and the child's cause of death remain under investigation.
A medical examiner will determine what killed the child.