3 Month Old Baby Beaten to Death at Homeless Shelter

[Gina1201]

YAZOO CITY, Miss. (Oct. 6) - A fire roared through a wood-frame house early Monday, killing five of six young children who officials said had been left home alone, and police were questioning the children's two mothers.

The cause of fire was not immediately known.

The children were siblings or cousins and ranged in age from 1 1/2 to 10, County Coroner Ricky Shivers. No adults were in the home when the fire broke out, he said.

A relative of the victims, 48-year-old Dorothy Bell, said the women were sisters.

Bell said she had not talked with the women since the fire, and ''I don't want to talk to them. I've heard they weren't there. Those were innocent kids and now they are gone. Our family is really tore up.''

The flames erupted shortly after midnight, gutting the single-story house and shooting flames and thick, black smoke into the sky.

Neighbors discovered the burning home and saw a boy trying to punch out a window. A woman smashed the window with a chair, according to witness Christopher Burnett.

''The kid was just there, right there at the window, so we just pulled him out,'' said the woman, Cynthia Brown, 26. She said another man, 19-year-old Antowain Johnson, ''tried to go back in and get the rest of them but the smoke wouldn't let him.''

Officials said the 8-year-old was taken to a Jackson hospital but wasn't believed to be seriously injured.

Shivers identified the victims as Devonta Bell, 10; Tacashia Bell, 3; William Bell, 1 1/2; Kayla Williams, 7; and Theanne Sims, 4.

Dorothy Bell said Clara Bell was the mother of five of the children, including the 8-year-old survivor, and Regina Bell was the mother of the fifth victim.

Witnesses said Regina Bell returned home after the fire appearing distraught, then apparently left.

Police Chief of Detectives Eric Snow said the mothers were taken into custody following the fire. He declined to comment further.

Dorothy Bell said both women and their children had recently moved into the house, which belonged to the mothers' grandfather.

Brown said the children often came over to her house to play. She said at times the children were left unsupervised on weekends.

''I think that was real wrong,'' she said.

Capt. Steve Williams, a 23-year veteran of the Yazoo City Fire Department, said he's worked deadly fires before, but ''when it involves children, you never get used to it.''

Yazoo City, a town of about 14,500, is 40 miles north of Jackson.

The fire happened days before a woman from nearby Tchula is to stand trial for manslaughter in the deaths of six children a year ago. Authorities said those children were left alone while their mother went to a nightclub.