A 4-month-old baby and his great-grandmother died Saturday after a fire broke out in a home in southwest Miami-Dade, officials said.
Just before 3:30 a.m. Saturday, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue received reports of a first-alarm fire near the 101500 block of West Circle Plaza in West Perrine.
Fire units arrived to find flames coming from a home with several victims trapped inside, including the baby and his parents, police said.
Charlene Brooks described her great-nephew, Legend Larose, as a beautiful little boy who was always dressed nicely.
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"It's hard," Brooks said. "We’re just praying for strength. We need strength."
Brooks said she got a frantic call from her sister that the house was on fire. Minutes later, while on her way to the hospital, she found out the baby did not survive.
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"'Legend is gone, Charlene. Legend is gone,'" Brooks recalled her saying. "I said 'gone where?' She said, 'Charlene, he didn’t make it.' I broke. I broke down."
Firefighters were able to put the fire out, but investigators said as they were putting out the blaze, they found a woman's body inside. Brooks said it was the baby's great-grandmother.
As the baby's parents — 22-year-old Leroy LaRose and 19-year-old Rukiyah Kendrick — fight for their lives, Brooks said the family is turning to their faith.
"It was just devastating news all around," Brooks said. "We’re just praying. We’re praying for a miracle. "
Police have not yet released the cause of the fire, but investigators believe it may have started in one of the bedrooms.
