MINNEAPOLIS — Almost two days after a apartment fire ripped through building in downtown Minneapolistwo dead were found.
It wasn’t until Thursday morning that David Hollmon, the property manager, realized he hadn’t seen one of his tenants since the fire.
“I went to the fire department and said, ‘Hey, I think one of my tenants is still there,’” Hollmon said.
He said the fire department told him this was impossible and that they had searched the building twice.
But firefighters searching the charred building on Thursday afternoon discovered an elderly man in a fourth-floor apartment beneath the stacks of the collapsed roof.
“Mr. Kerry was a nice guy, a joker, a laid-back, easy-going old man,” Hollmon said.
Hours later, firefighters found another body. Hollmon believes it was Kerry’s girlfriend.
“Let’s talk about the people who didn’t make it and how they didn’t make it when the guy (the firefighter) said they swept the apartment twice,” Hollmon said.
As of Thursday evening, both victims had not yet been identified.
On Tuesday evening, the fire brigade indicated that they were convinced that everyone had left safely.
“All residents have been accounted for, no one has said anyone is missing,” Assistant Fire Chief Melanie Rucker said Tuesday.
WCCO called again Thursday to ask how firefighters could have missed two people, but they still haven’t received an answer.
The search will continue on Friday with cadaver dogs.
Arson investigators continue to investigate how this fire started.
“Whoever did this, if someone did this on purpose, then they need to pay, pay,” Hollmon said.
