NEW YORK — The NYPD says a man was killed and another person was injured in an intentional house fire in Brooklyn Friday evening.
Vetus Roberts, 70, was pronounced dead at the scene of the fire on Monroe Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant. The father and grandfather worked as a carpenter.
His heartbroken daughters, who live in Florida and Saint Vincent, chatted with a family friend Saturday morning and described their father as a family man.
“Dad was hardworking and well-loved and he shouldn’t have died that way,” Genaira Roberts said.
Vetus Roberts’ 65-year-old girlfriend of more than 20 years, Jennifer, was taken to hospital for smoke inhalation. Her condition is stable.
“She was distraught. She was … with her head down,” neighbor Justin Coward said.
The police have arrested and interrogated someone.
“Whoever did this needs to be held accountable. That’s all we can say right now,” Genaira Roberts said.
Neighbors described the harrowing scene
“It’s heartbreaking, devastating. It was heartbreaking,” said a neighbor named Kayron.
Kayron and her neighbors, still dressed in their clothes from the night before, tried to process how the start of their Memorial Day weekend turned into a hectic escape.
‘We got everyone out quickly. We hit four floors four times,” Coward said. “We got everyone out before you could see the fire.”
Coward, who has lived in the building all his life, said he was playing video games in his third-floor apartment just before 11:30 p.m. when he saw smoke and smoke coming from the first floor. He said he got his neighbors, about 10 families, to safety, but was unable to catch one neighbor, who was found unconscious by first responders.
‘I thought he was already out. I didn’t know it was still in there. I didn’t know it was still in there. I would have taken him out too,” Coward said.
“It’s very disheartening. It’s disturbing”
Neighbors say there did not appear to be any conflict or scenario leading up to the tragedy that could have led to someone wanting to start a fire in the building.
“It’s very disheartening. I’m disturbing. We all could have lost our lives last night because if that had been intentional, that would have been cruel,” Coward said. “It’s crazy to live among people who do things like that. Like, I never expected that. I never expected that.”
But even as they mourn the loss of their neighbor, the building’s residents know they will always care for each other.
“That’s family and family isn’t always blood. It’s how you live,” Kayron said.
