OAN’s Abril Elfi
6:08 PM – Thursday, October 19, 2023
A man was arrested in connection to a fire that spread in his New Orleans home, killing his three children.
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The New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) released a statement on Wednesday announcing the arrest of Joseph Washington Sr., 29, in connection to the arson and murder of his three children, ages 8, 5, and 3.
NOPD stated that at 11:55 p.m. on Tuesday night, officers received a phone call from a woman asserting that her children’s father was threatening to “burn down their home.”
Soon after, approximately ten minutes after the call, a fire was reported at the residence.
At 12:20 a.m., police and firefighters were sent to the area and discovered that the house was going up in flames.
First responders stepped in to rescue an 8-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl who were then immediately taken to the hospital. However, both were later pronounced dead. A third child, a 3-year-old boy, was also discovered dead inside the residence, according to police.
According to police, the children’s mother was at work when he started the fire. Washington Sr. was apprehended by police following a manhunt on Wednesday.
Authorities say that they discovered the criminal’s abandoned vehicle partially submerged in the Mississippi River. Later, they received incoming reports that Washington Sr. was spotted in another car on the I-610 Eastbound at the Elysian Fields exit.
Despite attempting to flee by jumping off the overpass, he was finally arrested by police.
Washington Sr. is now in cusyody and being accused of three counts of second-degree murder, three counts of cruelty to a juvenile, and one act of aggravated arson.
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