Arson Kills Two In Apartment

The New Year had just begun when cries of fire rang out in the hallways of a rundown brick apartment building in a graffiti-pocked neighborhood of West Philadelphia.

A 3-year-old boy who apparently hid in a closet and a 49-year-old man were killed. Three others who jumped or slid down a gray blanket from a balcony suffered broken bones and other injuries.

Investigators blamed arson for the fire, reported at 12:15 a.m., making the deaths the city’s first two homicides of 1996. They had no suspects.

“Someone poured an accelerant on the second floor hallway,” fire dispatcher Steve Imszennik said.

Neighbors gathered during the day to look at the blackened windows in the middle of a three-building complex. Some said drug dealers at times plied their trade there, while others said the landlord allowed unsafe conditions to worsen.

Leroy Brown, 49, died of smoke inhalation, authorities said. Michael Heath, 3, who was found dead in a closet, died of smoke and soot inhalation, the city Medical Examiner’s Office said.