NEWARK, New Jersey — A teenager on a Father's Day visit to honor his deceased dad died, along with his mother and four others, when a fast-moving fire ripped through a three-story, authorities and the boy's grandmother said.
The blaze broke out at the single-family residence about 4 a.m. Sunday and soon spread to another home, the Essex County Prosecutor's office said.
Iris Sydney, the teenager's grandmother, said both sides of Stephan's family have ties to the Caribbean. She is a native of Georgetown, Guyana, and Stephan had been scheduled to go with his maternal grandmother on Wednesday to her native Trinidad and Tobago for a month-long visit with family there.
Sydney, 77, said the boy and his mother were visiting from Crawford, Georgia, and were staying with Johnson's relatives at the house.
Authorities have not determined the cause of the fire but say it doesn't appear to be suspicious, according to Thomas Fennelly, chief assistant prosecutor. Everyone in the second home managed to escape safely, he said.