A man who owned a Washington, D.C., rowhouse where a fire killed a boy and a man in 2019 was found guilty Thursday of second-degree murder.
James G. Walker, 67, was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder and 27 criminal building code violations for the deaths of 10-year-old Yafet Solomen and 40-year-old Fitsum Kebede.
Solomen and Kebede were trapped in the basement when a fire broke out at 708 Kennedy Street NW the morning of Aug. 18, 2019.
Eventually, firefighters managed to pull them both out after removing iron bars on the windows that were keeping them from escaping.
Both went to a hospital with critical injuries. They later died.
Prosecutors said Walker operated the building as an illegal “rooming house.” More than a dozen Ethiopian immigrants lived there.
Some of the building’s rooms were too small to be considered habitable spaces, and some had no windows, according to authorities. Walker also failed to install or maintain functional smoke alarms throughout the building, including in the basement.
“The most egregious violation, however, was the failure to provide an unobstructed means to escape the property, which included erecting multiple security gates that required keys from both sides, the worst offense being a double-keyed security gate installed within the property that blocked access from the kitchen to the front door,” the office for the U.S. Attorney of D.C. said in a release Thursday.
Months before the fire, D.C. police warned Walker about the violations. Walker was told to correct the conditions and have the building inspected for residential use, but he did not, prosecutors said.
Walker denied responsibility for the fire and said city inspectors never followed up to tell him what changes to make to the property.
D.C. Fire & EMS and the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) knew of the hazardous conditions five months before the fire, but inspectors failed to take action to remove families living in the house, News4 reported.
The police officer who first discovered the unsafe conditions sent five emails over two months to D.C. Fire & EMS and DCRA before an inspector from DCRA went to the house. The inspector visited three times but could not get inside because nobody was home, officials said.
Government officials said DCRA could have gotten a court order to force entry into the house but did not.
A judge ordered Walker to go to jail until his sentencing scheduled for May 2.
D.C. has a system to find and correct dangerous safety violations in apartments registered with the city. But illegal apartments can go unnoticed until a tragedy occurs.
In 2018, a landlord and building manager were found legally responsible in the deaths of two young people killed in a fire in 2015. They were ordered to pay a combined $15.2 million to the victims’ families.
In the District, the detection of potentially hazardous illegal apartments depends on renters to know their rights and neighbors to report anything suspicious, the DCRA previously told News4.
The DCRA says landlords are required to provide the following for residents:
- Interconnected smoking alarms on every level and inside each sleeping area
- At least one working fire extinguisher
- Carbon monoxide detector
- Exits, including doors and windows, that can be opened from the inside without the need for keys or any special knowledge or effort
- Electrical outlets, switches and fixtures that work properly
- For high rise buildings, a fire safety evacuation plan, along with fire drills at least once every year
- At least one exterior emergency escape for every sleeping room below the fourth floor
Residents can call DCRA at 202-442-9557 to report issues.
from Local – NBC4 Washington https://ift.tt/FSPxpKj
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