The patriarch of a Brooklyn family torn apart by a fatal suspected arson appears to have accidentally sparked the blaze himself while making vape dispensers to sell, cops said Wednesday.
“Guy’s making products, catches fire somehow,” NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said.
“Now, is that criminal? That’s still to be determined. It’s not like somebody came in and threw an accelerant down and then started the fire. That’s not what happened. It might have been accidental — just a terrible incident.”
Accelerant found at the scene led investigators to initially suspect arson but cops now believe it was being used to make the vape dispensers.
The father, Mufeed Al Haddad, 37, suffered only burns on his hands in the Tuesday morning fire.
But his wife, Amal Al Haddad, 36, died at the scene, and their daughter Rawan, 18, later died at Brookdale University Hospital. Rawan’s sister, Dawlah, 10, has also died, a relative told the Us.Mistertruth Wednesday.
Two other children, Rana, 14, and her brother, Ismael, 9, are in critical condition at Brookdale University Hospital, as is the dad’s brother, Khaled Al Haddad, 39.
The family lives on the second and third floors of a three-family home on Fountain Ave. near Liberty Ave. in East New York. The family on the first floor escaped safely.
“Anytime you see a whole family like this together, this time of the night, and the amount of fire and the emotion outside … neighbors, family members,” a choked-up FDNY Deputy Assistant Chief Chuck Downey said Tuesday. “It’s very emotional.”
Neighbor Nahar Ahmed, 50, recalled seeing the children playing outside Monday before waking to the chaotic scene inside their building.
“I woke up around 3 a.m. and I saw the fire,” she recounted. “I was looking out my window and I saw people running … Then I came to my living room and I saw everything there. Another lady, they were doing CPR.”