Squatter arrested after fire at Brooklyn apartment building, landlord says
NEW YORK – A squatter was arrested Thursday after a fire broke out at a Brooklyn apartment building, the landlord said.
A wild chain of events started when police were called to the building on Fulton Street near Eastern Parkway just before 4 p.m.
Man armed with knife barricades himself inside Brooklyn apartment building before fire breaks out
According to police, when an officer arrived on the scene, he encountered a 37-year-old man who was armed with a knife and then barricaded himself inside.
The New York City Police Department Emergency Service Unit was called in, and officers could be seen in tactical gear.
Police said a fire then started at the apartment building.
Neighbor Gino Mercado told CBS News New York, "Once they started all coming and surrounding the building, he threw gas all over the floor and all over his apartment, and then he lit it up."
About 60 firefighters and EMS personnel responded to put out the fire. One firefighter was hurt, as well as the suspect, who was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Luis Alberto faces a host of charges, including multiple counts of arson, criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and more.
Suspect was squatting in building, according to landlord
The landlord told CBS News New York's Jenna DeAngelis the man involved is a squatter. The landlord said he's been trying to go through the legal system to get him out of the building, but he's been staying in the basement illegally.
Mercado said the man is known in the neighborhood.
"Usually see him around here. He screams, like screams to himself, talks to himself," he said. "I feel like that building has had that coming to it. There's been a lot of squatters in the building coming in and out."
Residents displaced by Brooklyn apartment fire
Neighbor Aida Perez was evacuated from her apartment by police. When she stepped outside, she saw the building next door was on fire.
"We wasn't expecting that. It's like a nightmare," she said. "It was too much. Like, never in my life, I've never seen something like that."
Perez said she won't be staying her apartment Thursday night.
"You can't. I got a headache already. It's too much. [The smoke is] too strong. You can't sleep not even there tonight," she said.
The Red Cross is helping displaced residents.
