Bushwick Apartment Fire: 2 Brownsville Girls ID'd As Victims

BUSHWICK, BROOKLYN — Police have identified two Brownsville girls killed when a fire swept through a Bushwick apartment. The fire broke out around 11 p.m. on the second floor of a three-story apartment complex near Central Avenue and Schaefer Street.

Firefighters were able to get the fire under control about an hour later and pulled two children and an adult from the apartment. Emergency responders tried to revive at least one child at the scene, witnesses told the New York Post.

"I saw them performing CPR on a young person — definitely younger than 13,” said Andre Walunas, who lives on the top floor.

On Sunday afternoon, police identified 7-year-old Payton Gomez and 9-year-old Haley Harris as the victims who died at a hospital. Police initially said an 8-year-old girl had died, but later said she was actually 9.

Both girls lived in an apartment off Amboy Street, near East New York Avenue, police said. The medical examiner's office will determine exactly what caused their deaths.

A 53-year-old man was taken to a hospital for treatment and was listed in stable condition, police said. The cause of the blaze remains under investigation.

Bushwick resident Tim Clinton told WCBS-TV the second and third floors were "completely ruined by fire.”

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