Marshall-Shadeland fire claims lives of 2 brothers
As flames roared and smoke billowed from a Marshall-Shadeland home Monday morning, neighbors and passers-by scrambled to get a family with several young children out of the residence before it was too late.
Some tried kicking in the locked front door. Others tried smashing through the back door. Even once they got in, the intense heat and thick smoke turned them away.
“It was pitch black, smoky,” said neighbor David Jones, 19, who went in through the back door but couldn’t get far. “You couldn’t see anything. I could barely make it through the kitchen.”
Despite their efforts, two boys, identified as brothers Dylan, 7, and Nicholas Taylor, 12, died in the fastmoving blaze that trapped them on the third floor of their Sorrell Street home. Their mother, identified by neighbors as Jennifer Taylor, 38, and 6-year-old brother survived
and play on the swings, play backyard basketball,” she said. “[My grandsons] were so excited because there were boys in the neighborhood to play with.”