Monday, January 21, 2013

Squatter killed in abandoned Richmond Hill garage


From the Times Ledger:

A homeless man who was squatting in the detached garage of an abandoned Richmond Hill home was found dead after the place caught on fire early Saturday morning.

Firefighters found the garage on 120th Street near Liberty Avenue engulfed in flames when they arrived just before 1 a.m. and after the fire was extinguished they discovered an unidentified body inside, according to the NYPD.

Neighbor Shafqat Wasi said that for the past few years a group of five to 10 vagrants have been living in the garage.

“I saw them using candles in there,” he said. “I told them don’t do that. It’s not safe.”

Authorities were investigating the cause of the fire.

4 comments:

Joe Moretti said...

Good riddance to both, the abandoned garage and the squatter.

Anonymous said...

they were probably smoking crack. god rest his soul.

Anonymous said...

It's too bad the neighbors couldn't work together to bring this matter to the attention of Homeless Services or a community board. It was a disaster waiting to happen. They are lucky that the fire didn't spread and damage other properties.

Anonymous said...

and the question is, was he really a squatter or was he in fact a rent-paying tenant in an illegal conversion?