Police: 2 homeless women set fire to vacant squatter’s home
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Two homeless women have been jailed on charges they set fire to a vacant Pittsburgh home in a dispute with a squatter living there.
Police say a firefighter twisted a knee fighting the Sunday afternoon blaze, though the woman living there suffered only minor injuries after jumping from a porch roof to escape the flames.
Online court records don’t list attorneys for the suspects, 31-year-old Quianna Robinson and 24-year-old Tiffany Mitchell-Fields. Both were arraigned early Monday on charges including arson and aggravated assault.
Criminal complaints indicate a woman living in the home argued with the suspects before hearing a “crackling” noise a short time later. That happened, police say, after Fields-Mitchell broke a window with a brick, then dropped a burning cardboard box inside the home.
The suspects face an Oct. 29 preliminary hearing.