Volunteer Fire Fighter Starts Blaze To Become Hero, Kills Four
A volunteer firefighter was charged Saturday with setting a fire that ripped through a crowded apartment house, killing a woman and three of her children.
Caleb Lacey, 19, a volunteer member of the Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department, set the fire at a neighbor's apartment house as a staged rescue attempt that went awry, said Nassau County homicide detective Lt. John Azzata.
"The suspected motive is what arson experts call 'hero' or 'vanity' — to be the savior and appear to have saved individuals," he said.
Lacey faces one count of arson and four counts of second-degree murder in the Feb. 19 blaze in the Long Island town of Lawrence. He was arrested Friday.
Police said Lacey poured gasoline into the building's only staircase and set the fire, then returned to the fire department headquarters. When the call came in, Lacey "was one of the first responders on the fire truck," said Azzata.
At the arraignment, a prosecutor said Lacey in a video statement admitted to setting the fire and that he knew people were inside the building at the time, according to Newsday.
Authorities said the fire blocked the main escape route from the building. Killed in the blaze were Morena Vanegas, 46; daughters Susanna Vanegas, 9, and Andrea Vanegas, 13; and son Saul Presa, 19. Eight other residents, including Vanegas' two other children and their father, escaped through windows.
Hempstead town officials also issued summonses to the building's owners, citing the removal of a fire escape without a permit.
Lacey, of Lawrence, was ordered held without bail. Police did not immediately know if he had a lawyer. There was no immediate response to a call to Outreach Church of God in Christ, where Lacey's father is a pastor.
The fire department said Lacey, a probationary member since May 2008, had been suspended for an unrelated incident, details of which were not immediately disclosed.
Comment
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Comment by FREE THE HOOD...F%CK THE POLICE! on March 30, 2009 at 8:46pm - WHAT A DICK!!!!
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Comment by thereverend510 on March 24, 2009 at 12:47pm - man, nigga is craaaaaaaazy!!!!!!!!!
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Comment by Rufus on March 23, 2009 at 7:08pm
- OMG WTF
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Comment by Big "Money" Dre on March 23, 2009 at 11:58am - Do firefighters do this all the time?
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Comment by B. NiNo on March 23, 2009 at 8:58am -
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH~~~ fucken dick
his sentence should be gettn fisted with a pair of boxin gloves 4 times each day by a fat transexual while they set his puevs on fire n tell him to put that out
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Comment by Open Your Third Eye on March 23, 2009 at 6:06am - LOL. EVeryone needs to stop trippin, everyone in america is going to die really soon anyways. THis country is going to be a third world country really soon, so this kid just took 3 people from hell, and put them into complete bliss.
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Comment by CHUKWUMEREZE UNEGBU on March 23, 2009 at 4:41am - WAT A DUMBFUK?MAY THE SOULS OF THOSE VICTIMS REST IN PEACE.AMEN
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Comment by Leon Sewell on March 23, 2009 at 3:26am - What in the hell...is going on in this damn world today..people this is a wake up call...watch your surroundings ....this ignorant ass fool...took a familys life away by trying to make his self look good...what the fuck....!!!
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Comment by Massacre Mason on March 23, 2009 at 3:21am - OH SHIT IS THAT CORY GUNZ
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Comment by Jay on March 23, 2009 at 1:33am - lol...OH SHIT, YA'LL NEED TO CHECK THIS OUT, CRAZY... http://www.rewards1.com/index.php?referrer_id=431964
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