A 6-year-old boy whose grandmother dropped him from a third-story window Monday as flames engulfed their Roxbury apartment building was reunited yesterday with the Boston firefighter who made the catch of a lifetime.
"You lost your home, but this is your house now," Lt. Glenn McGillivray said, scooping Xavier Lara up in his arms at the Engine 42, Rescue 2 firehouse in Egleston Square. "You come here anytime. You're one of us."
Mayor Thomas M. Menino congratulated McGillivray for saving "our little pal," one of 15 rescues firefighters made early Monday, when 24 apartments at Westminister Avenue and Wardman Road were destroyed, leaving dozens of people homeless.
"Thank you so much," Xavier's grandmother, Judith Lamb, said, giving McGillivray a long hug.
Abdul Jabar Mohamed, the 27-year-old Medford man accused of setting the blaze in a failed suicide attempt, was held on $100,000 bail yesterday after he was arraigned on arson and attempted murder charges from his bed at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he is being treated for severe burns.
Prosecutors said Mohamed fled the scene without calling 911 and told hospital staff that he "blew up the house."
"This was not simply an act to harm himself," Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Dana Pierce said. "It showed an utter disregard for life."
Mohamed fled the scene, taking a cab to Boston Medical Center, where he arrived without a shirt, authorities said.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
