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Rep. Elijah Cummings gives tearful statement after staffer injured in deadly Baltimore house fire

Posted at 11:53 AM, Jan 12, 2017
and last updated 2017-01-13 06:23:18-05

Rep. Elijah Cummings gave a tearful statement after news that a longtime staff member was injured in a deadly house fire in northeast Baltimore.

Katie Malone was a special assistant at his Catonsville office, Cummings said in a news release Thursday morning.

RELATED: 4 injured, 6 children unaccounted for in northeast Baltimore house fire

He issued the following statement during a press conference:

“Last night around 12:30 one of my employees, Katie Malone, who has been with my office for 11 years, experienced a fire and sadly six of her nine children perished. It’s a very difficult time for our office. Katie is going to be ok. I talked to her husband at length today. Three of the nine children survived. Her husband she thinks that they will be ok also. We are a small, very diverse office of 21 people and we are like a family. Most of my employees have been with me in the Baltimore offices for more than 10 years. Katie’s responsibilities were to deal with immigration matters dealing with our various academies, our naval academy and the Army and others, and she also dealt with military problems, but her main focus was immigration. I have talked to her family at length this morning, her mother and husband. They are still trying to wrap their arms around this, but we have made it clear that my office is going to every single thing in our power to embrace them in this very, very difficult time.”

Six of Malone’s children are presumed dead and three are listed in critical condition after a fire broke out at a three-story home in 4200 block of Springwood Avenue near Belair Road.

Crews are still working to comb through debris in search of the missing children.

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