‘All I could hear was screaming’: Brothers, 9 and 11, die in blaze after briefly being left home alone when their mom went out to run errands and their dad was starting his first day in a new job
- Two children aged 9 and 11 were killed Monday in a Grosse Pointe house fire
- Neighbors heard the boys yelling for help, but they couldn’t get out of the home
- When firefighters finally got inside they found both brothers were incapacitated
- Their mother had left them home alone to run errands; their father was at work
- Fourth and fifth graders, Briggs, 11, and Logan Connolly, 9, were at home because their elementary school was having a delayed opening on Monday
- A GoFundMe page managed to raise $50,000 for the family on Tuesday
Two children have died in a house fire after being left home alone by their parents in Michigan.
The brothers, named as Briggs and Logan Connolly aged 9 and 11-years-old, had became trapped and killed by the fire in the town of Grosse Pointe, near Detroit.
The boys’ mother had stepped out to run some errands. Their father was at work on his first day in a brand new job.
Brothers Briggs and Logan Connolly aged 9 and 11-years-old died. Their father Walter is pictured too
Both boys were found hiding from the smoke but the damage had been done and they died
The boys were best of friends and shared a keen interest in sports including soccer and hockey
Briggs, left, and Logan, right, did everything together. It may be of some comfort that the boys also alongside one another also
Parents Azucena, and Walter Connolly were both out of the house when the fire occurred
Neighbors heard the children screaming but there was nothing they could do. The entire community is said to be shocked
Neighbors heard the boys yelling for help, but they couldn’t get out of the home
When firefighters finally got inside the home both brothers were incapacitated
Nine-year-old Logan and 11-year-old Briggs Connolly were in an upstairs bedroom of the house when the fire broke out.
It’s believed the children called their mother on her cellphone who immediately rushed back home, but she was unable to get back inside to rescue her sons.
‘I was sound asleep and I hear all this breaking glass and screaming,’ a neighbor said to ClickOnDetroit.
‘You could hear the screaming from the mom. I’m running out the door, and some guy broke open a window and the huge flames came roaring up. The kids were up in the bedroom above the garage, and they were trapped up there. You could hear the screaming. It was just terrible,’ he said as he described the panic.
Their mother had left them home alone to run errands; their father was at work
A thorough investigation will now take place to discover exactly what called the blaze
‘Some guy in a pickup truck just stopped and heard the screaming tried to help,’ he continued. ‘The first responders were here within a minute or two. They suited up, they went in, but there was just nothing they could do. It was an intense fire.
When the firefighters finally made it inside, the boys were incapacitated and found to be hiding from the smoke.
It’s believed the fire began in the kitchen but a full investigation is needed in order to determine the exact cause.
Fire crews were on the scene particularly quickly but there was nothing that could be done
A ladder was used in an attempt to reach the upstairs room where the boys were hiding
In a tragic twist of fate, on any other day the boys would have been in school, however their elementary school had a late start on Monday morning.
The young pupils were students at Richard Elementary School in Grosse Pointe Farms and keen hockey players.
Across the neighborhood hockey sticks are being set outside homes as tribute to the boys.
A GoFundMe page managed to raise $50,000 for the family on Tuesday .
Police aren’t releasing the identities of the children yet. An email with their names went out to some in the Grosse Pointe Public Schools district,