He ran from the scene as the smoke detector's alarm pierced the morning
In the early hours of a March morning in New Kensington, Pennsylvania, what began as a simmering family dispute crossed into something far more grave — an alleged act of deliberate destruction aimed not merely at a building, but at the lives sheltered within it. Anthony Mohamed, 37, is accused of carrying gasoline to a duplex on McCargo Street and setting it ablaze, sending two families scrambling for survival and leaving one woman with shattered bones from a desperate rooftop jump. The charges against him — six counts of attempted homicide among them — reflect what authorities believe was not impulsive rage, but premeditated intent. He remains at large, and the families he is accused of targeting are slowly rebuilding what was taken from them.
- A week of escalating text messages between Mohamed and his stepbrother set the stage for what police say was a calculated act of violence, not a spontaneous outburst.
- Neighbor surveillance footage captured Mohamed arriving by bus with a gas can, moving deliberately around the duplex before fleeing the moment smoke alarms sounded at 7:55 a.m.
- Two families had only seconds to escape — a mother fractured her leg, foot, and ankle jumping from the roof, and young children were treated for smoke inhalation in the chaos that followed.
- The state fire marshal confirmed the blaze was intentionally set in the living room, anchoring a chain of physical and digital evidence that authorities say points unambiguously to Mohamed.
- With an arrest warrant issued and Mohamed still at large, the legal reckoning remains unfinished — while the displaced families, staying in Pittsburgh, prepare to move into a new home by month's end.
On the morning of March 29, fire ripped through a duplex at the corner of McCargo Street and Freeport Road in New Kensington, gutting one side of the building and forcing two families into the street. No one died, but the toll was severe: broken bones, smoke-damaged lungs, and two households left with nothing. Authorities now believe the fire was no accident — they are searching for Anthony Mohamed, a 37-year-old Pittsburgh man charged with setting the blaze with the apparent intent to kill the people inside.
Mohamed faces six felony counts of attempted criminal homicide, three counts of arson, and a string of additional charges including burglary and reckless endangerment. Surveillance footage from a neighbor's camera tells a methodical story: Mohamed arrived around 7:38 a.m., was seen carrying a gas can toward a resident's car and then back to the house, left two backpacks inside, and fled the moment smoke detectors activated at 7:55 a.m. The state fire marshal later confirmed the fire was intentionally set in the living room.
Living on the McCargo side were Jeris Smith, Jasmine Bell, and their three young children, along with Smith's 18-year-old son asleep in the basement. When smoke filled the home, the family jumped from the front porch roof. Bell fractured her leg, foot, and ankle in the fall. The children inhaled enough smoke to need medical care, though all have since recovered. The family on the other side of the duplex also escaped, with one resident treated for smoke inhalation.
Mohamed, police say, was Smith's stepbrother. The two had fought the week before, and text messages in the days that followed showed Mohamed pushing the conflict toward something darker. He is believed to have taken a bus from Pittsburgh to New Kensington, arrived around 7:30 a.m., set the fire, and departed on another bus roughly an hour later.
Bell's mother, Nikki Bell, confirmed her daughter had undergone surgery and was progressing through physical therapy. The children were doing well, and the family planned to move into their own place by the end of the month. A GoFundMe remained open. Mohamed has not been apprehended. The warrant for his arrest stands.
On the morning of March 29, a fire tore through a duplex at the corner of McCargo Street and Freeport Road in New Kensington, gutting one side of the structure and forcing two families into the street. No one died, but the cost was steep: broken bones, smoke-damaged lungs, and two households left without homes. Now police are hunting for Anthony Mohamed, a 37-year-old Pittsburgh man accused of setting the blaze deliberately, with the apparent intent to kill.
Mohamed faces six felony counts of attempted criminal homicide, three counts of arson, plus charges of burglary, criminal trespassing, and criminal mischief. He also faces nine misdemeanor counts for recklessly endangering others. The charges carry the weight of a man who, authorities believe, did not simply want to destroy a building—he wanted to destroy the people inside it.
Neighbor video footage paints a damning sequence. At 7:38 a.m., a person later identified as Mohamed approached the McCargo side of the duplex. Minutes later, he was seen carrying a gas can toward one of the residents' cars, then back toward the house. He left with two backpacks, returned without them, and at 7:55 a.m., as the smoke detector's alarm pierced the morning air, he ran from the scene. Eight minutes later, the fire had spread enough that escape became a matter of seconds and desperation.
On the McCargo side lived Jeris Smith, Jasmine Bell, and their three young children. Smith's 18-year-old son was asleep in the basement. When the smoke came, they moved fast. Smith, Bell, and the children jumped from the front porch roof. The son found his way out through a side door. But the jump cost Bell dearly—she fractured her leg, her foot, and her ankle in the fall. The children inhaled enough smoke to require medical attention, though they recovered without lasting harm. The family on the other side of the duplex also escaped; one resident was treated for smoke inhalation.
Mohamed, according to police, was Smith's stepbrother. A week before the fire, the two had fought. In the days that followed, text messages showed Mohamed pushing to continue the conflict, escalating toward something darker. Police say he took a Pittsburgh Regional Transit bus to New Kensington, arriving around 7:30 a.m., and left on another bus roughly an hour later—enough time to set a fire and vanish.
The state fire marshal, Adam Derco, determined the blaze started in the living room and was intentionally set. The evidence—the video, the gas can, the timing, the flight—all pointed in one direction.
Jasmine Bell's mother, Nikki Bell, offered a brief update on Friday: her daughter had undergone surgery on her leg and was progressing through physical therapy. The children were doing well. The family had been staying in Pittsburgh but planned to move into their own place by month's end. A GoFundMe remained open for donations. When asked about the family connection between Mohamed and Smith, Nikki Bell declined to comment.
Police have issued a warrant for Mohamed's arrest. He remains at large.
Citas Notables
The family is doing better— Nikki Bell, mother of Jasmine Bell
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why would someone set a fire in a building where his own family was living?
That's the question that sits underneath all of this. The stepbrother relationship suggests proximity, history—maybe resentment that had been building. The text messages show he wanted to keep fighting after their initial altercation. But whether this was meant to kill Smith specifically, or whether the fire was meant to destroy and he didn't care who was inside, we don't know yet.
The video shows him carrying a gas can. That's not ambiguous.
No, it's not. He brought accelerant. He came with intention. The question is whether he knew exactly who was home and when, or whether he was just angry enough to set a fire and let the consequences fall where they would.
Jasmine Bell broke three bones jumping from a roof. Her children were choking on smoke. How close did this come to being a murder case instead of attempted homicide?
Very close. If anyone had been trapped, if the smoke had been thicker, if the children had panicked instead of moving—it becomes a different story entirely. The fact that no one died is partly luck, partly the speed of their escape. But Mohamed set the fire knowing people were inside.
He took a bus there and a bus away. That seems almost casual.
It does. Which suggests either confidence that he wouldn't be caught, or desperation—he had no car, so he used transit. Either way, it's the kind of detail that makes an arrest straightforward once police identify him.
What happens to the families now?
They rebuild. Jasmine Bell is in physical therapy. The children are healing. They're moving into a new place this month. But displacement is its own kind of trauma—the loss of home, the disruption, the knowledge that someone you were related to did this to you.