Oct. 06--The bodies of a woman and an 11-year-old boy were recovered Saturday from an apartment fire in Wissinoming that Philadelphia police said was intentional.
Police found both victims in a bedroom closet in a first-floor apartment on the 4600 block of Howell Street. A fire marshal determined the fire in the apartment had been set, but police declined to comment on whether the victims died as a result of the fire.
Police did not release the victims' names. A police source said the department was searching for a person of interest in the case.
Neighbors said that they saw smoke pouring from the building around 9 a.m. Saturday and that at least one family on the street was temporarily displaced.
Candyce Kraft, who said her uncle lives in the building, saw the caution tape and stopped by to check on her relatives Saturday morning. Her aunt had been taken to the hospital after the fire. Her uncle was uninjured but still inside the building Saturday morning, she said.
On Saturday evening, fire officials would not say how much of the building was damaged or how many residents were displaced.
Mary Pommer, who lives two doors down from the apartment building, said she and her daughter-in-law smelled smoke and hurried outside to "bang on doors."
A man came out of the building and told her he needed a fire extinguisher, she said.
According to Pommer, the man told her not to call police and added, "We'll handle it."
Pommer said the man "wouldn't let her near the house" with her fire extinguisher.
Pommer's husband, Walter, said the man apparently left the scene before police arrived.
Police did not identify the victims. Mary Pommer said the woman, who appeared to be in her early 20s, and the boy had moved into the apartment recently, and neighbors weren't familiar with them.
She had seen the boy on the street, however -- walking a puppy on the sidewalk each day, she said.
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