‘BLUNT’ SLAYS
Teen sez pot ember lit Qns. fire that killed 2
A churchgoing teen arrested for murder Thursday over accusations he set a fire in his grandmother’s Queens apartment that killed two men says his blunt started the blaze.
“Can you pray for me, please?” the sobbing suspect, 17-year-old Kahj Woods, asked his great-grandmother by cell phone after he was ordered held without bail during his arraignment in Queens Supreme Court.
“I will,” the woman was heard responding over the phone in the court’s hallway. “Stop crying because God is with you. I just prayed for you — he heard it.”
Woods is charged with murder, manslaughter and arson in the deaths of severely disabled 64-year-old David Hawkins and 86-yearold John Wigfall in the Dec. 23 fire in the great-grandmother’s Jamaica apartment.
Woods’ great-grandmother, who was not home when he allegedly set the blaze, was a caregiver to the two victims, authorities say.
The teen told investigators and ember from a joint he was smoking sparked the deadly flames, according to prosecutors.
In a YouTube video from five years ago, a young Woods is seen in church reciting Bible scripture.
“Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth,” he reads. “It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves.”
Woods, who lives in East New York, Brooklyn, told investigators he was back in church the morning of the fatal fire, accompanied by his grandmother. But he didn’t stay long.
“I got upset while I was there about an incident that occurred with my girlfriend a couple of weeks ago so I decided to leave,” he told cops, according to prosecutors.
He left through the back door and went to his greatgrandmother’s apartment above the Next Generation of Victory Temple church on 150th St. near 97th Ave., where he banged on the door for 15 minutes. He was eventually let inside by victim Wigfall, prosecutors say.
“I went inside, hung out, watched TV and made something to eat,” he told authorities, prosecutors say. “Then I went to the stairwell and smoked a blunt.”
Authorities allege he intentionally set a fire in the first-floor hallway that trapped the two victims upstairs.
“I ashed the blunt over the second floor railing. I didn’t see any fire. I don’t know the ashes could have started a fire,” Woods admitted, according to prosecutors. “I took the blunt with me and left around 3 p.m. and took the train to Brooklyn.”
Surveillance video obtained by the Daily News in December shows a man sporting headphones exiting the building a few minutes before smoke started to pour out of a second-floor window about 3:05 p.m.
Firefighters found Wigfall and Hawkins unconscious in the burning apartment. They were rushed to Jamaica Hospital, where both died.
Prosecutor Bryan Kotowski said in court that two witnesses identified Woods as the culprit.
Judge Michael Aloise ordered Woods held without bail. The teen remained silent and solemn throughout the hearing.
In the court hallway after his appearance, Woods’ mother gave him advice over the phone for jail.
“Don’t let them see your weakness,” she said. “Don’t let them see you crying. You have to remain strong. You’re going to see some s—t in there. We’re going to do what we can from the outside but you have to remain strong.”
Woods faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted on the top counts.
“This was a horrible fire that should never have happened and the two men killed should still be alive,” Acting Queens District Attorney John Ryan said Thursday. “It is fortunate that no one else was injured or killed.”