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2 Children Die in Apparent Arson Blaze

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SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Two small children died when a predawn fire swept through their South-Central Los Angeles home Friday, a blaze that officials said was deliberately set.

Relatives identified the children as Donnie Gregory, 4, and his sister, Donelle, 2, who were sleeping when someone set fire to the small house they shared with relatives in the 700 block of East 27th Street, authorities said.

Five others were injured, including an 18-year-old man who suffered second- and third-degree burns before he jumped to safety out a second-story window, officials said. A 68-year-old woman was taken to the hospital with chest pains.

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Three firefighters suffered burns and cuts battling the blaze. One of the firefighters, John Libby, 29, of Huntington Beach, was hospitalized with second- and possibly third-degree burns on his legs. He was scheduled to undergo skin-graft surgery today at Sherman Oaks Hospital’s Grossman Burn Center, a hospital spokesman said.

“The cause was incendiary,” said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Jim Wells. “It’s a police matter now. It is a homicide.”

Officials would not comment on why the house was set on fire.

Neighbors were awakened by screams and sirens about 4 a.m. They rushed outside and saw the front of the white wooden house engulfed in fire. Gunshots were also heard outside the house, police said.

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“My niece called me [on the phone], screaming, ‘Auntie Pearl! Auntie Pearl, the house is on fire!’ ” said Pearl Gregory, grandmother of the children who died. “I kept screaming, ‘Get the children out of there! Just get them out!’ ”

“Oh Lord, have mercy,” Gregory moaned, almost mute with grief. “They were such sweet little kids.”

Neighbors attributed the suspected arson to increased gang activity and drug trade in the last six months.

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The deaths of the two children left many residents stunned. On Friday, the acrid smell of smoke hung in the humid air as neighbors gathered in hushed circles around the charred home. Some stared at the somber scene blankly; others let tears stream down their faces.

“They were just two babies, two babies,” one woman said in anguished tones. She baby-sat the children Thursday. “They were happy yesterday. Who would have thought they wouldn’t be here today?

“I’ve been crying all morning,” she added. “I’m all cried out--I can’t take it no more.”

Those who knew Donnie and Donelle described them as happy children who often played outside with the other neighborhood youngsters. Donnie, also known as Junior, was fiercely protective of his younger sister.

The siblings had lived with their great-aunt for a year and a half. Police said they were told by relatives that the mother is in jail, but they were unable to determine why.

The children’s father, Donnie Gregory, struggled to stay composed as he gazed at the blackened house Friday. Gregory said he is homeless but was staying nearby when the fire broke out.

His son was a bright child, Gregory said, and learned new things quickly--including the gang slang and mannerisms of the older boys around him. Gregory, 45, was desperate to get him out of the neighborhood, he said.

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Officials said they are still investigating how the fire was started. The blaze caused $25,000 in damage to the property and its contents.

Officials said five people besides the two children who died were in the home when the flames broke out and were outside the house when firetrucks arrived. One of the children was found in the stairwell; the other body was in an upstairs bedroom.

The loss hung heavy over the block, which remained still as neighbors kept vigil over the scene. The only movement was that of the firefighters sifting through the black soot looking for clues.

Gregory said he visited the children Thursday when he bought them new shoes and cut Donnie’s hair.

“They were carefree and happy,” he said. “When they saw me they hollered, ‘Hello Dad! Hello Dad!’ Them are the ones who usually get it--the innocent ones.”

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