Inset: Anthony Mohamed (Westmoreland County District Attorney”s Office). Background: Firefighters put out a blaze at a home on McCargo Street in New Kensington, Pennsylvania (WPXI/YouTube).
A man in Pennsylvania is accused of setting fire to his stepbrother’s home with 10 people inside, forcing them to jump from the roof.
Anthony Mohamed, 37, faces a slew of charges, including six counts of attempted criminal homicide, aggravated arson, arson causing the danger of death or bodily injury, arson that endangers property and causes reckless endangerment, risking catastrophe, burglary, criminal trespass, criminal mischief, and nine counts of recklessly endangering another person.
On March 29, just before 8 a.m., Mohamed “intentionally” set a fire at a home on McCargo Street in New Kensington, Pennsylvania, the Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office said. The area is located just northeast of Pittsburgh.
The fire raged and “prompted rescues and residents jumping from a second floor to flee from flames,” according to authorities. Firefighters arrived to see the duplex on fire and “people jumping from the porch roof.”
“They could not descend the staircase to the first floor due to the heavy fire,” New Kensington Fire Chief Ed Saliba told regional NBC affiliate WPXI. “The husband jumped off the roof, the wife threw the three kids down to him, he got them to safety, and when she jumped, she broke her leg.”
Witnesses also snapped into action — and said the fire was so severe that the fleeing family could not even wait nearby for authorities.
“Flames were shooting out the window behind them as they were coming off the roof,” one neighbor told the local outlet. “I just jumped in, I just took off my robe, wrapped up the kids, and just tried to get them out of the street and get the mom out the street really, and away from the house because stuff started exploding.”
Medics reportedly cared for the children and said they were safe, while the mother was treated for her broken leg. Up to 10 people were in the home at the time of the blaze.
Police also arrived and began investigating what exactly occurred. According to the DA’s office, surveillance video from the neighborhood showed a suspect at 7:38 a.m. “walking toward the residence on McCargo Street until smoke can be seen from a neighboring camera at 8:00 a.m.”
Detectives “positively identified” this suspect as Mohamed, they say, and a Pennsylvania State Police fire marshal ruled that the fire was “intentionally set using a direct flame device to ignite combustibles within the structure.”
After nearly two months of searching for him, U.S. marshals have arrested Mohamed, WPXI reported. He was reportedly the stepbrother of a man living in the home.
“You tried to kill my children,” said the man’s partner. “You tried to take everything I have in this world from me. I hope that one day, when you’re sitting there rotting in your cell, that you realize that you did have something to lose.”
Mohamed is expected to appear in court on June 2.
