THE NYPD IS seeking the public’s assistance identifying the person seen in this video who is sought for questioning in connection to an arson incident that took place at 1211 Evergreen Avenue in Soundview on Sunday, January 29, 2023. Video courtesy of the NYPD
A neighbor has given her reaction to an arson incident that took place in the Soundview section of The Bronx during which one man died and for which a 15-year-old girl has been arrested on murder charges.
As reported, the NYPD had been seeking the public’s assistance identifying the person seen in the attached video and photo who they said was being sought for questioning in connection to the incident, which took place on Sunday, Jan. 29, at around 1.55 p.m. inside 1211 Evergreen Avenue.
They said firefighters responded and extinguished a fire at the location and found one unidentified man, deceased inside the building.
The NYPD later classified the incident as a homicide investigation.
On Feb. 5, police said the deceased was identified as Abdoukarim Sakolly, 27, of 1211 Evergreen Avenue in the Soundview section of The Bronx and that an unidentified 15-year-old girl was arrested and charged with murder, assault, arson, reckless endangerment and criminal mischief.
When contacted, the NYPD confirmed the girl seen in the attached photos was the person arrested.
Norwood News spoke by phone to one longtime resident of the area who requested not to be identified on Sunday, Feb. 5, and who said she wasn’t home on the day of the incident. Asked if she knew the people involved, she said, “Yes, some of them.” Regarding the deceased man, she added, “Well, the guy that passed, he always just be upstairs with the African guy named Amadou so I’m not really too familiar with them, because he’d come and go.”
THE NYPD IS seeking the public’s assistance identifying the person who caused this arson incident at 1211 Evergreen Avenue in Soundview on Sunday, January 29, 2023. Video courtesy of the Citizens’ App.
Asked if the people impacted by the arson incident had been living in the area/building a long time, the woman said, “Some of those guys live there one year, some live two years, some live three years; some of them are permanent and some of them come and go.” She added, “One of them is named Amadou, and he’s the one who’s normally there more, and takes care of the place and stuff like that…you know the one that got burned up?”
Asked if she had seen a photo of the suspect, she said, “Yes, I saw the picture that was on the news and my son sent it to me.” Asked if she knew the people who lived in the home where the incident took place, she said, “Well, I’m hearing a lot of stories… I don’t want to get involved. I don’t know if it’s the guy that died but she knew some of the guys in there.”
We asked if she knew if the suspect had been angry about something, the resident said, “Yes. I guess.” We asked if the house had been completely destroyed. The resident replied, “The house is very bad. There’s nothing there, I don’t think it’s livable. I don’t know. Nobody can go in there. Nobody knows what’s going on.”
We also asked the resident if she was surprised the suspect was a young girl. “Surprised? I don’t know, it’s shocking to me,” she said. “She’s just 15, so I don’t know what’s going on there. Well, you know there’s a lot of troubled young people out there, you know, that need help, mentally, and maybe if the government did a little more, they’d be able to help them because some of them are homeless and stuff like that. I don’t know her situation because I don’t know her. I’ve never seen her…..never, never in my life.”
Photo courtesy of the NYPD
A person arrested and charged with a crime is deemed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.
All calls are strictly confidential.
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.
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