Stroller In Hallway May Have Prompted Arson Suspect's Rage

Daniel Ignacio, the man who reportedly confessed that demonic voices told him to set a Bensonhurst fire that killed five people on Saturday, pleaded not guilty to charges yesterday. But residents say he was actually trying to settle a score with neighbors over a stroller left in the apartment building's hallway.

According to the Post, "neighbors said Ignacio was angry with Miguel Chan and his wife, Luisa, for leaving the stroller in the hallway of the Bensonhurst building." Luisa Chan died in the blaze and the couple's 2-month-old suffered a fractured skull when Luisa Chan threw the baby from a window. Police believe that Ignacio doused toilet paper with paint thinner, then igniting it in the stroller. The Daily News reports, "Ignacio, who lived on the second floor with seven others, went upstairs to sleep. He was soon awoken by the chaos." He ended up helping rescue the Chans' 2-year-old son and was initially praised as a hero.

Rev. Erick Salgado, whose parishioners include tenants of the building, tells the Post, "They knew it couldn't be an accident. It had to be something evil. He burned down the stroller because he was upset they kept it in the hallway. He told them several times to move it, but they had nowhere else to put it." In the meantime, City Councilman Domenic Recchia Jr., with the support of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Mayor Bloomberg, is working with the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty to raise funds for the victims of the fire (to help with costs of flying bodies back to Guatemala for burial and replacing damaged clothing, etc.). Details below: