The Associated Press
DETROIT (Aug. 20) - Four children ages 1 to 11 years old were found shot, three fatally, in the basement of a burning home, and their father was being sought for questioning Wednesday.
The surviving child, a girl, was in critical condition at Sinai-Grace Hospital, police officer Christopher Cole said.
Police believe the father, Anthony Lamar Bailey, 37, fled the scene on a bicycle after the blaze started sometime before 9 p.m. Tuesday. Authorities did not call Bailey a suspect, but urged residents to dial 911 if they see him.
Cole said neighbors reported Bailey had been raising the children and that he was in the middle of a divorce with the children's mother, who has not been seen for about a month.
Cole said it appeared the fire was set to cover up the crime, although that had not yet been confirmed.
Police did not identify the dead children or the girl who was hospitalized, but a teacher at Pitcher Elementary School said one of the four was 9-year-old Antonia, a model student.
Antonia was named student of the month in March and received awards in nearly every subject at an end-of-the-year assembly, said Judith Bryant, her fourth grade teacher.
``She was like a sponge,'' Bryant said. ``She wanted to soak up as much as she could.''
Tommy Samuels, 38, who was visiting his brother in the neighborhood, said he saw firefighters bring out the children's bodies. He said the firefighters tried in vain to revive one of the children, who appeared to be a girl about 2 years old.
``They tried to save that baby,'' he said. ``They really, really, tried. They kept pounding on her and pounding on her.''
DETROIT (Aug. 20) - Four children ages 1 to 11 years old were found shot, three fatally, in the basement of a burning home, and their father was being sought for questioning Wednesday.
The surviving child, a girl, was in critical condition at Sinai-Grace Hospital, police officer Christopher Cole said.
Police believe the father, Anthony Lamar Bailey, 37, fled the scene on a bicycle after the blaze started sometime before 9 p.m. Tuesday. Authorities did not call Bailey a suspect, but urged residents to dial 911 if they see him.
Cole said neighbors reported Bailey had been raising the children and that he was in the middle of a divorce with the children's mother, who has not been seen for about a month.
Cole said it appeared the fire was set to cover up the crime, although that had not yet been confirmed.
Police did not identify the dead children or the girl who was hospitalized, but a teacher at Pitcher Elementary School said one of the four was 9-year-old Antonia, a model student.
Antonia was named student of the month in March and received awards in nearly every subject at an end-of-the-year assembly, said Judith Bryant, her fourth grade teacher.
``She was like a sponge,'' Bryant said. ``She wanted to soak up as much as she could.''
Tommy Samuels, 38, who was visiting his brother in the neighborhood, said he saw firefighters bring out the children's bodies. He said the firefighters tried in vain to revive one of the children, who appeared to be a girl about 2 years old.
``They tried to save that baby,'' he said. ``They really, really, tried. They kept pounding on her and pounding on her.''
