STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) — Fire gutted an apartment in a rundown complex Monday, killing three women and six children, including several family members taken in because they had nowhere else to go, officials and neighbors said.
The West Memorial Funeral Home identified the victims as India Williams, 25, and her three children, along with Williams’s cousin, Castella “Maria” Bell, 18, and her three children. The ninth victim was 20-year-old Lakesha Gillespie, identified by the funeral home as a friend. The children were ages 6 months to 6 years.
Latasha Brown, who lives downstairs, said she never heard smoke detectors, but a neighbor banged on her door around 4 a.m. to tell her to get out. She grabbed her 3-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter and ran barefoot into the cold.
“It was horrifying,” said Brown, 28. “I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.”
Investigators did not know what caused the blaze, though they did not suspect it was set. Several neighbors said the apartments in the Academy Crossing complex had electrical problems, though complex owner Mildred Rollins said she was not aware of any such problems. She would not comment further.
Neighbors said Williams, who worked at a Popeyes fast food restaurant, took in Bell and her children recently because they had fallen on hard times. They said Williams and Gillespie were a couple.