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A Sunday fire in Lower Moyamensing has authorities looking to determine if someone committed arson.
At about 3 a.m., emergency personnel responded to a report of a fire inside an unoccupied property on the 2000 block of South Juniper Street. The three-alarm incident prompted officers to evacuate the area, with 15 adults and two children receiving shelter through the American Red Cross.
Shortly before 6 a.m., firefighters gained control over the blaze, and law enforcement officials soon engaged in conversation with a witness. The individual said he heard glass break and glimpsed a man going inside the property approximately 20 minutes before the matter began, according to police. He also relayed having seen a second man standing on the building’s roof.
The man added that the first figure exited to run south along South Juniper Street, then east on Snyder Avenue. A minute later, the witness, who could not determine what became of the other male, noted the explosion occurred. The Fire Marshal deemed the blaze suspicious the same day, with police not being able to provide a detailed description of the first man but noting the second as a 5-foot-4, 150-pound Hispanic with bushy curly hair and a goatee and wearing a black hoodie and jeans. To report information, call the Fire Department at 215-686-1300, text PPDTIP (773847) or visit www.phillypolice.com/forms.
Contact Managing Editor Joseph Myers at jmyers@southphillyreview.com or ext. 124.
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