LI Man Held Without Bail After Trying To Kill Roommates: PD

GLEN COVE, NY — A Long Island man is being held without bail after allegedly setting fire to his house while his roommates were inside — injuring one so seriously he is listed at a local hospital in critical condition from the severe burns that he suffered, Glen Cove police said.

Detectives said Alex Kirton, 47, “deliberately” set fire to the Glen Cove home he shared with two of his house mates while they were still inside. The Glen Cove Fire Department responded to a call for a house fire at the Raymond Street home just after 9 a.m., and two men were brought outside to safety, according to police. Their identities have not been released.

Glen Cove police said that when officers arrived, a resident of Raymond Street, Lawrence Pascucci, brought his ladder over to help officers to reach the second floor of the burning home. Glen Cove Sgt. Marco Telese, Det. Eddy Linares, Det. Lt. John Nagle, as well as officers Matthew Gillespie and Brian Genova, used the ladder to bring a 70-year-old man from the second-story window, and down the ladder to safety, according to police.

A group of Glen Cove firefighters went inside the burning home while William “Billy” Niece, Jr. and ex-captain D. Schnieder immediately started putting out the fire, police said. Asst. Chief Phill Grella, along with firefighters Peter Micheleas, Michael Mienko and Javier Valentin of the Freeport Fire Department, located the second victim, a 51-year-old man, who was unconscious inside of a second-floor bedroom, and brought him outside to safety, police said.

Glen Cove EMS stabilized him at the scene before he was airlifted to Nassau University Hospital Medical Center in East Meadow for treatment of his severe burns, and he remains there in critical condition, according to Det. Lt. Nagle. The 70-year-old man, who rescued from the second floor of the home, suffered smoke inhalation and has been released from the hospital.

An ongoing investigation is being conducted by Nassau’s Homicide Unit, the Arson/Bomb Squad, Glen Cove police, state police, and the Nassau County Fire Marshal’s office.

Kirton has been charged with two counts of first-degree attempted murder, as well as first-degree arson, both felonies. Nassau police said. He is being held without bail at the Nassau County Correctional Center in East Meadow, Det. Lt. Nagle said.

If convicted, he faces up to 25 years in prison based on the top charge of attempted murder.