Property Owner Indicted In 2 Deaths From August Fire In Northwest

WASHINGTON, DC -- The Metropolitan Police Department charged the owner of a crowded rooming house in Northwest with second-degree murder in connection with an August fire that killed a 9-year-old boy, according to news reports.

D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham said James G. Walker, 61, was arrested on Wednesday, Jan. 15, in Baltimore, the Washington Post reported. He was indicted on two counts each of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter.

Walker, who will be arraigned on Jan. 28, owns one house in Baltimore and two in D.C. He had a license to operate a pharmacy at a D.C. row house located at 708 Kennedy Street, N.W., but did not have permits to allow occupants, officials told the Post. Several immigrants from Ethiopia lived in the house.

Fitsum Kebede, 40, and Yafet Solomon, 9, died Aug. 18 in a fire at the Kennedy Street home. City regulatory agencies had cited Walker numerous times for building code violations at that house that "contributed to the deaths."

Read more ...

D.C. rooming house owner charged with murder in connection with fatal fire