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Three Young Children Killed In Bronx Apartment Fire
By
Jen Chung
Published Oct 26, 2013
Modified Mar 21, 2018
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By
Jen Chung
Published Oct 26, 2013
Modified Mar 21, 2018
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Three boys, ages four months to five years old, are dead after a fire broke out in their family's Bronx apartment. Neighbors said the apartment's electricity was turned, so the mother bought candles to light the apartment.
The fire at 64 W. 165th Street was reported just after 8 p.m. The FDNY and emergency responders found a 25-year-old woman and her five children—a five-year-old boy, a four-year-old girl, a two-year-old boy and four-month old twins (a boy and girl)—and took them to Lincoln Hospital for smoke inhalation. All the boys, Elijah Artis, 5; Jeremiah Artis 4; and Michael Turner, 4 months—were pronounced dead.
A neighbor said, "I heard the kids screaming for help. I saw the firemen bringing out one kid. He looked like he was already dead. It was the oldest boy. His body was just black." A woman, Yvonne Laracuente, in the area told the NY Times that she heard a harrowing scream, "It was a yell. She was screaming ‘my babies.’" The Times reports, "Ms. Laracuente and her friends ran toward the sound, they saw a woman wearing only a T-shirt on the fire escape of the building. She was holding a toddler, Ms. Laracuente said."
The fire was under control by 10:30 p.m. The FDNY said, "Fire inside that apartment basically burnt off some of the plaster off the walls and a couple rooms in that apartment were charred up pretty bad."
Neighbors say the family's electricty was shut off. From the Post:
“They didn’t have electricity for the last couple of days. I heard there were candles burning,” said neighbor José Vasquez, who added that the utility workers who had turned off the power told him the family owed lots of money.
“Her power was turned off and the Red Cross came yesterday to help her. She refused to see them and she went to the corner store to buy candles,” said neighbor Charles Worth Ryan.
“The owner made her promise not to use them at night.”
The FDNY is investigating the fire and whether the power was shut off. WABC reports,"The mother had been approved for public assistance, and the lights were due to come back on Saturday."
The mother has been identified as Tashika Turner. Her sister told the Daily News, "The whole family is very distraught right now. It's extremely hard... She lost one of her twins and two other babies." Another relative said, "She's (Tashika) conscious but she's out of it. She's sedated, she's in a wheelchair. We haven't asked her yet what happened, but she knows the babies were lost. She lost three babies at once, it's a lot to lose at one time."
Tagged
bronx
con ed
electricity
fatal fire
fire
power
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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