Landlord set apartment with kids on fire over unpaid rent in New York. Mr Islam, a New York City landlord upset about unpaid rent, set a staircase on fire with the second floor tenants still inside, [00:00:15] causing them to toss their kids down to the neighbors from the roof. Authorities said six children and two adults had to be rescued. He is facing eight counts of attempted murder, arson and also assault. Background on the incident here it is. [00:00:31] The fire happened September 26 at a two-story apartment building in Brooklyn. Investigators soon found video showing an unidentified man wearing a mask and a hood enter and leave the building where the fire took place before the 911 call was placed, officials told New York Station WPIX. [00:00:50] David Harrison Law and crime witness accounts of the rescue Mr Islam unclear on the relation to the suspect. This is a different Islam, this is Shatfiqul told the outlet. He and his roommates were sleeping on the building's first floor when they were [00:01:08] awoken by someone screaming fire. They ran outside and to their back we are all outside and then we see on the roof like six kids and a mother. They are all on the roof and father, and their father, Mr Iklam, [00:01:25] of course this is not the landlord, this is the second, Islam said. They're trying to throw the kids off the roof and tell us take them, take them. Again, Mr. Islam said this he and his roommates caught four of the kids and the parents jumped. [00:01:41] Firefighters went into the home and rescued the other two kids. Law and crime had to say this, according to WCBS, seven people were taken to the hospital with minor injuries. The fire department said 60 fire and EMS personnel responded to the scene and [00:01:58] it took an hour to get it under control. Islam had allegedly threatened this is not the Islam that saved them, this is a different one. Had allegedly threatened to cut off the gas and electricity to tenants in the past, WPIX reported. He had also previously threatened to set the home on fire if the rent continued [00:02:16] to be unpaid, officials reportedly told the station. When the fire first started, people speculated it was him, our neighbors told local CBS affiliate WCBS. I just see him unusually just walking around going house to house to [00:02:32] the houses that he owns, but I'm just shocked that he got arrested. Rafiqul Islam remains in jail, records show. Listen, I don't understand how in the world these threats were allowed to go along and why people didn't report this before it happened. [00:02:52] If you're threatening people to burn them down because they can't pay rent, this is tyranny. This is tyranny, this is beyond criminalizing poverty. This is killing people because they're poor. And we sit idle in this country more and more as people's rent continue to be raised. [00:03:08] And also we see landlords act in this manner with no defense for people who can't survive in an economy that sometimes is not even equipped or built for them. Sharon, what are your take, I know what your takes off, but you share them in your words. [00:03:24] >> Speaker 2: Well, yeah, and I mean, you mentioned that last part, and that's where I was gonna go at some point, too. I don't know if this was rent control. First of all, none of that matters, okay. But before you talk about, and I'm a landlord, I've had people not pay where you talk about people who, they signed a contract. They're supposed to pay rent, they're not. [00:03:39] And so this man's upset and maybe went temporarily out of sorts. This is a tough country to just survive in, not thrive in. We're not nearly there to just survive. And when you look at the pictures, mayor, the aftermath, [00:03:55] sometimes people make threats and they intend to make good on them. First, it was the gas and electricity. He was gonna shut that off. And then who says something like that, I'm gonna burn the place if you don't pay? And then he does it. When you look at those pictures, those kids, [00:04:13] that family shouldn't be with us today. It's by the grace of something, a higher power that they are. It's despicable, there's attended murder and then there's attempted murder. He meant to kill these people. [00:04:33] >> Speaker 1: He absolutely meant it. And I'm an advocate for a just justice system. A justice system does not allow this case to be handed with a soft hand. This is absolutely ridiculous. There were six children in that apartment, six children and two adults. [00:04:49] And what people might breeze over in my stuttering when I was reading is that two of those kids had to be rescued by the fire department, which means the parents had to leave. They had to make a decision for their lives. And the kids that they had already put down that they need to jump off the roof. And the fire department, thank God we're able to go back in and [00:05:06] rescue those two kids. So that was a period in these parents life where they didn't know if their kids were gonnna burn to death. The time between the fire department is rescuing them and them getting their kids back. This is absolutely disgusting. And what does it take? What position is a parent in to say, [00:05:23] I need to throw my kid off of roof in order for them to survive?