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By  Julius Whigham II and Bill DiPaolo The Palm Beach Post RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. — Quick action by neighbors and firefighters — and a little luck — saved three infants trapped inside a burning apartment on Friday that police say was set on fire by their father after a domestic dispute with the children’s 19-year-old mother. Using hammers, chairs and whatever they could grab to smash through hurricane windows, neighbors entered a burning second-floor unit at the Stonybrook Apartments. They handed a 3-year-old boy and a 1-year-old boy out the window. children inside . (Photo/ Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office)" />Velmando J. Williams, 22, set the apartment on fire with his three children inside . (Photo/ Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office) “They kept pounding and pounding. They were using hammers and chairs, anything they could get their hands on. They wouldn’t stop until they got those kids out,” said Riviera Beach Mayor Thomas Masters . A video taken at the scene ...

A Florida judge denied bond for 22-year-old Velmando Williams, who is being accused of locking three children in a bedroom before setting fire to their apartment after an argument with their mother, according to the Palm Beach Post . Last week, a Stonybrook Apartment fire nearly took the lives of three children. It was reported that Tranice Smith, 19, and Williams, who is the father two of her children, was in a heated argument. Smith stated that she was cut in the back of the head and held down by her shirt. When she was able to break free, she said she ran out of the apartment and told Williams that she was going to call the police. That’s when Williams told her that he was going to set the apartment on fire before slamming and locking the door. Williams allegedly locked the three children in a bedroom inside the Stonybrook Apartment before setting fire to the couches in the living room by using cooking oil. Afterward, he jumped from an open window and fled the scene, according t...

| Share | Share | Share | Share Aug. 13--RIVIERA BEACH, FL-- Quick action by neighbors and firefighters -- and a little luck -- saved three infants trapped inside a burning apartment on Friday that police say was set on fire by their father after a domestic dispute with the children's 19-year-old mother. Using hammers, chairs and whatever they could grab to smash through hurricane windows, neighbors entered a burning second-floor unit at the Stonybrook Apartments. They handed a 3-year-old boy and a 1-year-old boy out the window. "They kept pounding and pounding. They were using hammers and chairs, anything they could get their hands on. They wouldn't stop until they got those kids out," said Riviera Beach Mayor Thomas Masters . A video taken at the scene shows neighbors struggling to pound through the doors and flames coming through the roof. "There's a newborn baby in there! Somebody locked the doors! Somebody get that baby out of there," a woma...

RIVIERA BEACH Quick action by neighbors and firefighters — and a little luck — saved three infants trapped inside a burning apartment on Friday that police say was set on fire by their father after a domestic dispute with the children’s 19-year-old mother. Using hammers, chairs and whatever they could grab to smash through hurricane windows, neighbors entered a burning second-floor unit at the Stonybrook Apartments. They handed a 3-year-old boy and a 1-year-old boy out the window. “They kept pounding and pounding. They were using hammers and chairs, anything they could get their hands on. They wouldn’t stop until they got those kids out,” said Riviera Beach Mayor Thomas Masters . A video taken at the scene shows neighbors struggling to pound through the doors and flames coming through the roof. “There’s a new-born baby in there! Somebody locked the doors! Somebody get that baby out of there,” a woman screams in the video. A one-month-old girl was still inside, residents told firefi...

RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. -  Quick action by neighbors and firefighters -- and a little luck -- saved three infants trapped inside a burning apartment on Friday that police say was set on fire by their father after a domestic dispute with the children’s 19-year-old mother. Using hammers, chairs and whatever they could grab to smash through hurricane windows, neighbors entered a burning second-floor unit at the Stonybrook Apartments . They handed a 3-year-old boy and a 1-year-old boy out the window. >> Read more trending news “They kept pounding and pounding. They were using hammers and chairs, anything they could get their hands on. They wouldn’t stop until they got those kids out,” said  Riviera Beach Mayor Thomas Masters . A 1-month-old girl was still inside, residents told firefighters when they arrived about 6 p.m. Firefighters were unable to see through the heavy smoke. A thermo- imaging device led them to the child. She was lying on a bed. A door had somehow landed on top of...

Velmando Williams . (PBSO) RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) —  A man accused of setting fire to an apartment complex in Riviera Beach with children trapped inside , stabbed their mother in the head during a fight, minutes before flames ripped through the apartment, police said. The fire happened Friday night at the Stonybrook Apartment complex on Martin Luther King Jr . Boulevard in Riviera Beach. Authorities believe the fire began in the living room on two couches, likely from an accelerant. Video shared to CBS12 showed people breaking through the locked apartment door to rescue two young children trapped inside . Riviera Beach firefighters found the third child , a one-month-old girl, underneath a door. It may have saved her life, firefighters said Saturday. Velmando Williams , the father of two of the woman's children, her 3-and-1-year-old sons, is accused of setting the fire. Police wrote in the arrest report the woman, after being stabbed by Williams, ran out of the apartment ...

RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. — Police have just made an arrest following an apartment fire in Riviera Beach. Police said they' ve charged Velmando Williams for setting a fire at the Stonybrook Apartments. Advertisement Police said based upon statements from the mother of the three children and other witnesses at the scene, Velmando J. Williams was located near the apartment complex and detained for questioning. A State of Florida Fire Marshal confirmed the fire was not an accident but was an intentional act of Arson. The young children's mother advised that the father of her children, Velmando J. Williams set the apartment on fire during an argument that occurred between the two of them. Following extensive investigation, detectives determined that Velmando J. Williams set the fire. He was charged with Attempted Murder, False Imprisonment, Simple Battery Domestic , and First Degree Arson. Williams was arrested and transported to the Palm Beach County Jail . Emergency workers pulled ...

RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. - First responders are a special breed. They run toward danger, risking their lives to save others. Friday night, Riviera Beach firefighters got that call. An apartment was up in flames with three children trapped inside . “We got there we noticed a large column of smoke and a heavy wall of fire," Battalion Chief Ken Brack recalled . Thanks to neighbors, two kids got out. But it was up to the firefighters to save a newborn baby. Firefighter Brandon Keatts made his way through the hot zone. “When the door came up and I saw the infant, a lot of thoughts went through my head at once," he said. Keatts has been with the Riviera Beach Fire Department for three years now but he’d never dealt with such a life and death situation. "This was a once-in-your-career call,” he said. “This is something I’ll remember from now until I’m telling the grandkids when I’m retired.” He got the baby out of the fire and smoke – just in time. “As I reached down, the arms an...

A 22-year-old man was arrested Friday night after he set a Riviera Beach apartment on fire with his children inside, police said. Velmando J. Williams was charged with Attempted Murder, Simple Battery Domestic , and First Degree Arson. According to WPTV, Riviera Beach Police received an emergency call reporting a domestic dispute at an apartment complex in the 1500 block of Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard . Riviera Beach Fire Rescue crews , police and concerned residents at the scene were able to safely rescue three children, including an infant, a 1-year-old and a 3-year-old, from the apartment. The children's mother told police that Williams set the apartment on fire during an argument between the two of them. He was arrested and booked into the Palm Beach County Jail . A State of Florida Fire Marshal confirmed that the fire was an intentional act of arson, and not an accident. Published at 10:40 AM EDT on Aug 12, 2017

A father in Florida is being held without bond after allegedly setting an apartment on fire with his three children inside before escaping through a window, authorities say. Velmando Jahvon Williams , 22, remains jailed at the Palm Beach County Jail on three counts each of attempted homicide and false imprisonment, as well as first-degree arson and battery charges, jail records show . Williams set the apartment on fire Friday during an argument with the children’s mother at Stonybrook Apartments in Riviera Beach, she told WPTV. “I’m trying to get over it, but I can’t,” the children’s mother, Tranice Smith, told the station. “I have no words for him. None.” Williams held Smith down by her shirt prior to setting the fire, but she was able to break free by ripping her shirt off during the scuffle, according to a police report obtained by the Palm Beach Post . Smith then told Williams she was going to call police about the domestic dispute, prompting him to tell her that he was going to...

RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Authorities say a Florida man tried to kill his three children by locking them in an apartment and setting it on fire. The Palm Beach Post reports that 22-year-old Velmando Williams remained in jail Tuesday, charged with arson, attempted homicide and kidnapping. Riviera Beach police say Williams was arguing with the children’s mother Friday when the fight turned physical . The woman threatened to call police, and authorities say Williams told her he was going to “burn her apartment down.” Police say Williams locked himself and the children inside, set fire to the couches and then escaped through a window. Neighbors and firefighters rescued the children, who were treated at a hospital. The youngest is a month old. Williams is being held without bond. Jail records didn ’t list an attorney. ___ Information from: The Palm Beach (Fla.) Post, http://www.pbpost.com Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadca...

CBS12 reporter Yaremi Farinas has the latest on the Stonybrook apartment fire . (WPEC) RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) —  A newly released report shed light on the circumstances surrounding the apartment fire that nearly claimed the lives of three children. The report says Trenice Smith, the mother of the children, ran out of the apartment half naked after 22-year-old Velmando Williams, the father of her two sons, stabbed her in the back of the head with a knife during an argument. Latoya Rentz remembers the moment Smith noticed her three small kids were trapped inside a burning apartment . “When I looked at the window and they started getting black and stuff I'm like, 'Oh my God,'” Rentz said. “The girl Trenice was saying the kids were locked in." Williams locked Smith out of the apartment as she called for help, police said. “He don’t even know what he did to Trenice, what he did to her family,” Rentz said. Below is the recording of a 911 call that captured the cha...