STEELTON, Pa. — Investigators say 67-year-old Jafar Afshar used an accelerant to set fire to the upstairs apartment while his 36-year-old son, Saeed Afshar, and his two grandchildren, an eight-year-old boy and a five-year old girl, were believed to have been asleep.
“We have three deaths that are homicides and the perpetrator, the individual that did it, is suicide," said Dauphin County Coroner Graham Hetrick.
According to Dauphin County Coroner Graham Hetrick, thermal burns and smoke inhalation caused all four deaths.
“I think this happened quickly. I think there was a large amount of smoke very shortly. if those individuals were asleep, they could’ve very easily been unconscious or incoherent from the carboxyhemoglobin level of the carbon monoxide of the blood," said Coroner Hetrick.
Coroner Hetrick says there was no sign of Saeed and his kids attempting to escape, which makes him believe that they might succumbed to the smoke before knowing what was happening.
“You don’t lose these images, you don’t lose these images ever. You won’t lose that image either because it was a tremendous loss of life. We don’t know the potential of the 5 and 8-year-old, and what their lives could’ve been," said Hetrick.
Steelton Mayor Maria Romano Marcinko says the community is hurting over the loss.
"The community is going to have to heal over this. things don’t happen, you know you see the mass shootings and you’re watching it on television and it never happens where you are, until it does," said Romano Marcinko.
Investigators still don't know the motive for the killing.
The deadly fire that claimed the lives of four people in Steelton last week was deliberately set as part of a triple-murder suicide, the Dauphin County Coroner's Office said Tuesday.
Speaking at a press conference, coroner Graham Hetrick said the fire was set by Jafar Afshar, 67.
The victims were Jafar Afshar's 36-year-old son, Saeed, his 8-year-old grandson, and his 5-year-old granddaughter, Hetrick said.
Jafar Afshar also died in the blaze, according to Hetrick. His death was ruled a suicide, while the deaths of Saeed Afshar and the two children were ruled homicides.
All four people died of thermal burns and smoke inhalation, Hetrick said.
The fire broke out shortly after 6 a.m. on Aug. 6 along South Front Street in Steelton. It was reported by a passerby.
The fire originated in an apartment above the Raja Mart convenience store.
Firefighters responded to the scene within minutes, but were unable to rescue the victims inside.
Hetrick said all four people died at the scene.
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