Apartment building fire near Texas State University campus left six injured, affected over 200 people in July
Cellphone footage captured a fire that spread to multiple apartment buildings near the campus of Texas State University, leaving at least six injured and over 200 people affected by the fires.
A Texas apartment fire in July that left five people dead was intentionally set, and the deaths were officially ruled homicides, authorities said Tuesday.
The victims, 21-year-old Belinda Moats, 19-year-old Haley Frizzell, 21-year-old David Ortiz, 20-year-old Dru Estes and 23-year-old James Miranda – died of thermal injuries, Hays County Justice of the Peace Maggie Moreno said.
Inhalation of combustible products was also a cause of death for Moats, Estes and Miranda, she said.
All of the victims were on the second floor of Building 500 at the Iconic Village Apartments in San Marcos on July 20 when the fire erupted, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
Ortiz and Frizzell were in the same apartment as 20-year-old Zachary Sutterfield, who survived the fire. However, Sutterfield suffered a traumatic brain injury and third-degree burns to roughly 70 percent of his body and remains hospitalized, according to the newspaper.
Autopsy reports were sealed because of the ongoing investigation, FOX7 Austin reported.
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigators announced last month the fire was intentionally set. No suspects or motives have been identified.
Gina Ortiz, the mother of David Ortiz, told the Express-News she wants justice for the victims.
“The worst possible scenario, the worst we could have imagined, has turned out to be true,” she wrote in a message to the newspaper. “No one deserved this. We are hoping and praying that someone will come forward with information to bring justice for all of our children who died in such a tragic way…They deserve justice.”
A $10,000 reward was offered to anyone with information leading to an arrest or conviction in the fire.
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