Authorities have confirmed that a 10-year old Georgia girl was killed by a destructive fire started by an older sibling.
According to police, the Easter morning inferno decimated a family home in rural Gwinnett County. The little girl, identified as Zoe McCue, perished after she became trapped in a windowless bedroom as flames engulfed the house at about 5 a.m., fire officials said.
“Once our crews arrived on scene we had heavy fire involvement throughout the entire front of the structure, it was just hidden away from a small wood line,”Justin Wilson, Lieutenant of the Gwinnett County Fire Department. “When we were arriving on scene, we had reports of two people being trapped inside the home, a 10-year-old girl, and a 15-year-old boy.”
After extinguishing the fire, firefighters discovered the child’s corpse. Investigators discovered the body of the teen in another area hours later, authorities stated. Officials said he was not hurt and that he was taken into custody by police for questioning. Because of his age, the boy was not identified. Authorities have not filed any charges in connection to the ongoing investigation.
“Through coordination and cooperation with the Gwinnett County police investigators and Gwinnett County Fire arson investigators, it was determined that this fire was arson and intentional in nature,”Christian D’Allaird from the Gwinnett County Police Department said this.
The father was working when the fire broke out. “I went over to her, and she told me I had to go home, there was a fire,”He said. “I tried to get a hold of my wife and she answered the phone and said, ‘Come home.'”
Investigators believe the case to be homicide. A GoFundMePage was created to pay funeral costs.
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