The lawyer for the owner of the southwest Miami-Dade home that exploded because of a hydroponics lab inside said his client only had a landlord-tenant relationship with the family that lived there.
The home near 63rd Street and 151st Place, which now has a roof covered in debris, has been deemed unsafe and unlivable.
But it was once Masha Hernandez' dream home. She bought it in the late 1980s.
"This is the home she ever bought. This is the home that she raised her children in,” attorney Daniel Espinoza said Monday night.
But the home was allegedly turned into a hydroponic marijuana grow house by the tenants she was renting to. The explosion Saturday morning rattled the neighborhood.
"Which is what shocked her the most – that fact that a family would put not only the community in danger, but put those two innocent children in danger,” Espinoza said.
Miami-Dade Family Grew Marijuana: Cops
The tenants had two young children, including a 4-year-old and a 6-month-old, he said. After the blast, a witness saw the baby being carried away as it foamed at the mouth, Espinoza said.
Neighbors, who share a fence with the home, say they had some structural damage – but worried most for the little ones.
Local
"Us being on the inside of our house, 35, 40 feet away, we rumbled, we shook, we got into panic mode, and being inside there must have been just an horrific situation,” neighbor Orlando Marinez said.
Espinoza said his client is working with police – and expressed confidence that the tenants will be brought to justice.
