Inset left: Anthony Green (WSYR). Inset right: Shaquoiya Allison (Obituary). Background: The aftermath of the fatal arson started by Green in Syracuse, N.Y. (Onondaga County District Attorney”s Office).
A New York State man will be spending the rest of his life behind bars for intentionally setting a house on fire and killing his neighbor.
In December 2025, Anthony Green, 60, was convicted by a jury of his peers in Onondaga County on one count of murder in the first degree, three counts of attempted murder, and one count of arson.
On Tuesday, Syracuse City Court Judge Mary Anne Doherty sentenced the defendant to life in prison without the possibility of parole over the fire that killed Shaquoiya Allison, 34, in June 2024.
The underlying incident occurred around 11 p.m. at a two-family residence on South Avenue. On the day in question, Green and his girlfriend, Lorraine Green, had been in an argument that escalated into a domestic call to police, according to Syracuse.com.
When the blaze began, the defendant was sitting on the front porch. Meanwhile, five people, including Lorraine Green, were having a party upstairs. As the man’s resentment smoldered, so did the building.
In surveillance footage shown to the jury, Anthony Green walks out the door as the flames, visible through the windows, lick higher up the walls and overtake the front porch area. The man’s cadence is slow as he makes his way to a nearby corner store to buy cigarettes.
“The only person who walks away from a fire completely unbothered is the person who set it,” prosecutor Rob Moran told jurors.
As the inferno builds, the defendant is seen making his way back to near the scene of the crime, the footage shows. Then, he settles in at an empty lot across the street – smoking as the home burns.
The judge castigated the defendant during his sentencing hearing – calling his actions “diabolical” according to a courtroom report by Syracuse.com.
“So evil it defies logic,” Doherty said, addressing Anthony Green. “I believe that kind of evil should never be free to hurt anyone again.”
Prosecutors argued that the victim was not the intended target. Rather, the defendant wanted to kill Lorraine Green, who wears a prosthetic leg. That late at night, the woman likely would have removed her engineered leg as she was enjoying herself with friends, presumably complicating her escape from the burning building.
Allison was asleep in one of the back rooms of the residence as the fire raged. Her death was ruled a homicide by smoke inhalation.
The defense, for its part, argued there was no evidence showing Anthony Green had actually started the fire. To that point, prosecutors did admit investigators never determined the exact cause, but argued the defendant’s behavior after the fire, in tandem with the history of domestic strife, was proof enough.
Prosecutors, at one point, also alleged Anthony Green used some kind of accelerant to coax the fire into spreading faster and that he would later admit, to at least one other person, that he was responsible for the fatal pyre, according to court documents obtained by Syracuse-based ABC affiliate WSYR.
In the end, the jury sided with the state.
During the sentencing hearing, Allison’s mother reflected on the caregiving her daughter provided to every person in her life. The victim worked as a caregiver with two different Syracuse-area groups.
“Our family is shattered,” her mother said.
The victim’s obituary remembers her in similar terms:
Her life’s work reflected caring for others. Shaquoiya was a loving & kind woman who will be dearly missed by all who knew her. She leaves to cherish family and friends.
Anthony Green, for his part, maintains his innocence and intends to appeal his conviction and sentence, his defense attorney said.
