Three killed in Middle Village arson

Police are investigating whether a victim of the Father’s Day arson fire which killed three and injured 11 in Middle Village may have started it, according to a published report.
The fire apparently started at about 7:35 a.m. on Sunday, June 15, in the stairwell between the second and third floor of the three-story building on 69th Street, just north of Metropolitan Avenue.
William Salazar, 31, lived on the second floor. He reportedly worked as a carpet cleaner and had flammable cleaning fluid in his apartment.
Salazar was reported to have been at home, arguing with an estranged girlfriend, Agnes Bermudez, 47, shortly before the blaze started. A witness is said to have heard the woman shout, “Just kill me!”
Law enforcement sources reportedly said that the investigation is considering “Whether one of them splashed a flammable liquid on the other, then lit a fire.”
The pair emerged from the entrance of the building engulfed in flames and staggered into the Z Star Deli Grocery on the first floor. They were saved from death when the store operator and a customer led them back out into the street, dousing them with gallon jugs of spring water, until firefighters arrived.
“They walked into my store on fire. Their whole body was on fire. They were screaming, ‘Please, help!’” said grocer Mohammed Al-Matari, 45.
His customer, George Zugajewicz, was getting a snack after working an overnight shift across the street. “The man was screaming ‘Put me out! Put me out! Put me out!’” he recounted.
Salazar suffered burns over 40 percent of his body and smoke inhalation. Bermudez also suffered serious burns, including on her face, according to published reports. They reportedly ended a three-year relationship after “an argument over money months ago, then broke up on good terms,” according to family members.
The inferno decimated a Colombian family on the third floor.
Heriberto Garcia-Vega, 68 was found dead on the floor of the third-floor apartment, a victim of smoke inhalation according to reports. His 48-year-old wife, Flor Sandoval and son, Felipe Garcia, 20, who were both burned, died after being taken to Elmhurst Hospital.
Another son, Daniel, also a burn victim at Elmhurst Hospital, is expected to survive. He jumped from a window, after his mother opened the door after the fire alarm went off and dense black smoke billowed in.
Sandoval was a much-acclaimed movie make-up artist, who worked on the film “Maria Full of Grace.” A surviving son has reportedly come to make arrangements to return the bodies of his family to Colombia.
The fire was first declared “suspicious” because there were no electrical outlets near the point of origin of the fire and because of the speed with which it spread through the building. A published photograph taken at the scene showed a Fire Marshal removing evidence using a metal can - typically used to contain volatile substances.
Fire officials also stress the importance of keeping doors closed during a fire. Officials reportedly cited the panicked residents leaving doors and windows open as one of the reasons the fire spread so quickly.
As a result of the fire, the building was ordered evacuated on Monday, June 16, pending a structural examination.