Baltimore police search for suspect in firebombing that killed two and injured six

iStock/Thinkstock(BALTIMORE) — Authorities are searching for a suspect who is wanted in connection to the firebombing that devastated a home, leaving two people dead and six others injured, according to the Baltimore Police Department.

The fire occurred early Saturday morning, and police said that the two who were killed were both teenagers, and among the injured are a 4-year-old and an 11-year-old. One adult is also in serious condition after jumping from the top floor of the home in an effort to escape the fire, police said.

“We know that this was a deliberately set fire,” Baltimore P.D. Public Information Officer T.J. Smith said Saturday. “And the individuals that were inside the home were apparently targeted.”

Smith added that there was a non-fatal shooting in the area on Thursday, two days before the fire broke out. Smith said investigators believe the two incidents are connected.

Smith said that five of the six who were injured have been released from the hospital, including the 4-year-old and 11-year-old.

The suspect has been identified by Baltimore police as Antonio Wright, 26. Wright, described as 6-foot-1, 190 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes, is wanted for murder.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is assisting the BPD with the search and offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to Wright’s arrest. Combined with the BPD’s reward of up to $2,000, authorities are offering a total reward of up to $12,000 as a part of their effort to arrest Wright.

“Bad guys on the street will tell you,” Smith said, “they will tell you kids, elderly, women are off limits. … The suspect didn’t care who was in that house.”

“We could be here talking about eight dead people, including a 4-year-old and an 11-year-old,” Smith said.

BPD Commissioner Kevin Davis said at a news conference Sunday that, “for a person to plan to commit this act it takes pre-meditation, it takes planning.

“Then he has to have the fortitude to go ahead and throw two Molotov cocktails inside an occupied row home in our city,” Davis added. “That’s absolutely unacceptable to Baltimore.

“Antonio Wright is public enemy number one,” Davis said. “We’ve caught every other public enemy number one and we intend to catch Antonio Wright.”

Davis said they don’t have any “hard set criteria” for what classifies a criminal as “public enemy number one,” but added that they use that term for “acts that shock the conscience.”

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