Ex-Con
Faces Murder Charge In Queensbridge Arson Attack
Queens Gazzette
11/18/09
A pregnant mother of
two young children
remains in critical
but stable condition
at the New York
Presbyterian
Hospital Weill
Cornell Medical
Center this week,
where she is
recovering from
burns she suffered
when her
ex-boyfriend set her
on fire at the
Queensbridge Houses
on Sunday morning,
November 15.
Police said Khenan
Clarke, 25, stormed
out of Latisha
Shaw’s apartment at
the Queensbridge
Houses just before
11 a.m. on Sunday,
moments after the
couple ended a
15-minute screaming
match.
Clarke returned to
the apartment a
short while later
with several cans of
gasoline. After
setting fire to a
hallway and a
staircase outside
Shaw’s apartment,
the ex-con knocked
on Shaw’s door. When
she opened the door,
Clarke tossed
gasoline over her
and lit a match,
police said. Shaw
screamed as she went
up in flames, as her
horrified children
looked on.
Police sources said
Clarke chased Shaw
when she managed to
get out of the
apartment and
climbed to the sixth
floor. A neighbor
there took her in
and put out the
flames on her legs
and torso but Shaw
screamed and ran to
the roof when she
thought Clarke had
found her, the
sources said.
Sources said Clarke
was served some
instant justice when
he slipped and
doused his own
clothes with
gasoline after
setting the hallway
fire and burst into
flames when he
tossed the match at
Shaw He walked to
the street and
sought help from
paramedics waiting
outside the
building.
“This guy walked up
to an ambulance and
told the medics he
was a friend of
Shaw’s,” sources
said. “The skin was
peeling from his
legs where he was
burned. The coward
never mentioned Shaw
or the kids. He just
wanted help with his
burns.”
Clarke tried to flee
to his car when
neighbors spotted
him at the ambulance
and alerted police.
He was taken to
Harlem Hospital,
where he faces
attempted murder,
arson, endangering
the welfare of a
child and a slew of
other charges.
Firefighters heard
the children
screaming from two
bedrooms in the
apartment and
managed to get them
out. Fire officials
said the children,
ages five and three,
suffered smoke
inhalation and were
taken to a local
hospital for
treatment.
The hallway and a
“down” staircase
outside Shaw’s
apartment were
completely blackened
by the fire. “It was
pretty apparent that
[Clarke] was trying
to trap the woman
and those kids in
the apartment,” the
sources said.
FDNY officials said
Shaw collapsed when
she reached the
roof. Firefighters
rescued the
unconscious woman,
who suffered severe
burns on her stomach
and legs. She is
listed in critical
but stable condition
at the Weill Cornell
Burn Center. Doctors
said Shaw’s injuries
were not considered
life threatening.
There was no
information
available on the
condition of her
unborn child.
A neighbor said Shaw
kicked Clarke, who
is the father of one
of the children, out
of the apartment
several years ago.
He stopped by the
apartment on Sunday
morning for a visit
that quickly turned
into a shouting
match.
“He was always
scary,” one neighbor
said. “He looked
like Satan, but who
thought he was
capable of this?”
