The deaths of two men amid a blaze that swept through their Queens apartment building the day before Christmas Eve has been ruled a double homicide, officials said Thursday. The bodies of John Wigfall, 86, and David Hawkins, 64, were found after flames tore through their second-floor apartment at 95-32 150th St. in Jamaica at around 3:05 p.m. on Dec. 23.
Two dogs also died.
It wasn’t immediately clear how the fire started, or if the men were victims of a crime prior to the fire.
FDNY Fire Marshals said Thursday that the cause of the fire was “incendiary.” No arrests have been made.
“It’s very sad that two people lost their lives,” said Pastor Leopoldo Aviles of the Iglesia Cristiana Un Nuevo Renacer next door.
Aviles said shortly before the fire, he saw the grandson of a woman who lives in the building “kicking down the door.”