An African family of five including two children have been killed in a suspected arson attack in Denver, Colorado.
Mr. Djibril Diol, his wife, daughter, sister, and niece all died in a house fire in Green Valley Ranch on Wednesday, August 5. But three other adult residents managed to escape by jumping from the house and are expected to be ok.
According to the Denver Post, the family had immigrated from Senegal some years back and were staying at their friend’s home until they could find one of their own.
The report said an alarm was raised by a Denver police officer who noticed smoke in the area; before police and firefighters descended on the address shortly after 2:30 AM Wednesday morning.
When they got to the scene, it was sadly too late to save the family who all were trapped inside.
Fire Captain Greg Pixley said officers made several attempts to get into the home to rescue those trapped but were beaten back by intense flames which damaged two neighboring homes.
According to him, the horrific tragedy could have been even worse, had firefighters not managed to stop the spread of the fire to the surrounding houses.
Denver Police Chief Joe Montoya confirmed the investigation is a homicide one.
“We have indication through some evidence that it was an arson,” he said, but refused to elaborate any further.
Fire investigators will work with the Denver Police Department’s homicide unit to determine “the true story of this fire
Friends of the family in the tight-knit community said Diol was an engineer, while both his wife and sister worked for Amazon.
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