Mobile Home Fire Kills 4 Children, Mother Charged With Homicide
Neighbors in Rayne, Louisiana are outraged after a mobile home fire killed four kids who had been left home alone by their mother. Shaqueta McDade, 26, has been charged with four counts of negligent homicide in the deaths of her four children: Jamari, 8; Amous, 7; LaShay, 5; and Brian, 2.
One neighbor, Melinda Miller, had reported that the children were left unattended the night the fire broke out. "They were too young to be home alone, entirely too young," she told The Advertiser. McDade was not at home when a fire broke out around midnight on Saturday.
Firefighters responded to the call and spent nearly three hours working to put out the fire. "The fire just kept coming back," Marshall Goodley told The Advertiser. When firefighters were finally able to put out the blaze, they made the grim discovery of four bodies inside. Two were at the front door, and two at the back, leading authorities to believe they were trying to escape.
Captain Doug Cain told the Associated Press that McDade was arrested on suspicion "of leaving the children unattended."
The community has been left reeling in the wake of the children's deaths.
"Since it is a small community, it's devastated our community," principal Amy Whatley told AP. "I've lived in this area for 30 years. These children have parents who were students of mine. I have former students on Facebook, pouring their hearts out, wondering what they're going to tell their child."
The news in Louisiana comes as another fire in Arizona claimed the lives of four people, including two children. In that case, firefighters responded to a call around 9:30 p.m. and had the fire extinguished in 30 minutes. Unfortunately, four victims were found near the doorway.
One neighbor was able to capture video of the fire, which includes a woman yelling, "There was a little boy in there."
Firearms are believed to have contributed to the fire, as multiple firearms were lit and went off during the fire. Authorities have not yet confirmed a cause for the fire.
