Bremerton Firebombing Linked To Argument Over Inheritance -- Police Investigate Family Fight Over Belongings

BREMERTON - Police here are investigating the possibility that a family quarrel over a deceased father's personal belongings may have led to a firebombing that burned three people who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Barbara Williams, 35, and Jimmy Moore, 9, were in critical condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle last night.

A third victim, Jimmy's mother, Velda Elaine Moore, 34, was in satisfactory condition with burns on her hands and arms.

POLICE STILL INVESTIGATING

Though police won't say much about their investigation, the three burn victims apparently were spending Thursday night with a friend, Josie Greer, and her son, Michael Denato, in their small, single-story apartment at Viewcrest Villages in the northeast corner of the city. All were apparently asleep in the house at the time of the fire. Greer and Denato escaped without injury.

Police and fire officials say the fire apparently was started about 3:20 a.m. Neighbors said they were awakened when they heard Mrs. Moore pounding on doors and screaming for help.

"The boy's mother was running from unit to unit screaming, `Oh Jesus! Oh Jesus! My baby's in there!' " said neighbor Sam Graham, who eventually rescued Jimmy Moore from the burning apartment.

Bremerton fire officials say it appears that two firebombs were thrown through a living-room window in the front of the house and through a window in the bedroom where Jimmy was sleeping.

Chief Chet Meigs said there were signs of gasoline in the two rooms.

A neighbor said a third Molotov cocktail missed the window and burned briefly outside.

Though it's not clear what prompted the firebombing, neighbors say the three burn victims were staying with Mrs. Greer following an argument she had with the children of her recently deceased husband.

HUSBAND DIED A WEEK AGO

Neighbors say Willie Greer died a week ago of heart problems. The couple had known each other for about two years but had only been married several months.

Greer reportedly left everything to his new wife. According to neighbors, Greer's four sons and a daughter from his first marriage arrived in town for the funeral and to claim some of his belongings.

Neighbors said the five met with their stepmother on Thursday afternoon and that the meeting quickly turned into an argument over who was entitled to what.

Police Sgt. Mike Fuller confirmed investigators are checking into the dispute.

"We've confirmed it's arson," said Fuller. "We're pursuing it as a possible homicide in case someone dies from this."

Graham spent most of yesterday trying to figure out what would prompt such an act.

He didn't have any answers.

"I can't think of anything uglier than trying to roast alive a woman and her kids," he said. "What can make a human being do what they attempted to do last night? To throw it in the front and back, they were trying to kill somebody. They may not have known five people were in the house but they had to know there were two people in there."