Grandmother & four children perish in Northeast Baltimore

BALTIMORE - The images of the young victims, who ranged in age from a year old to seven years old, lay among the growing stack of stuffed animals and balloons left in tribute to the four children who died in the home on Denwood Avenue, and for many, the extent of the loss is almost too much to bear.
 
"I had to actually walk away as soon as I walked up on it because it made me want to cry,” said Deion Gillis, a family friend, “So I just put the roses down and backed up cause knowing what happened---it's painful."
    
It’s a pain shared by a nearby neighbor, John Hunter, who befriended the young children from two doors down.

"They use to come up every day and I'd give them candy and frozen sticks and things," said Hunter, "They were my buddies.  They'd see me pull up in the truck.  They would run.  Call me."
    
One of the children was Cierra Hansboro’s god-daughter and she’s openly bitter over the tragedy.
    
By all accounts, half of the 10 people inside the burning home escaped by jumping from windows, but 55-year old Nancy Worrell refused to leave her grandchildren behind.
 
"This is sad because I feel as though they could have saved them,” said Hansboro, “If you could jump from the window and save yourself, you could have saved your mother.  She's sitting there with them kids and holding them kids and died with them kids in her hand and to me that's not right."

"When there are kids involved, you'd rather save them than save yourself because they're young and they can't maneuver as fast as you can," added Breiona James.

Of course, firefighters reported finding the house fully engulfed in flames when they arrived, and it appears the smoke alarms may not have sounded---giving the family little time to escape or to save the others who remained behind.