Arson Still Suspected in Prospect Heights Fire

A man who escaped last Friday's Prospect Heights fire finally learned that his wife and two small children died in the same blaze. Kassum Fofana had been recovering at Kings County Hospital, but his relatives couldn't bear to tell him at first, just saying that Assita Coulibaly and their 4 year-old daughter and 1 year-old son were fine; an assistant imam at Fofana's mosque broke the news yesterday. Fofana managed to jump from a third floor window, while his family was trapped inside. The fourth victim, a young woman named Sherri Williams, died from jumping out a fourth floor window. While arson still suspected, investigators do not believe the fire was set to intimidate poor residents into leaving the neighborhood, leaving a burnt-out bargain for a developer to buy. However, the number of fires in the neighborhood lately make residents and local politicians suspicious, giving the rising value of real estate in Brooklyn.