Detroit family escapes firebombing of home; 1 firefighter injured

Family loses everything in fire on Virgil Street

DETROIT – A Detroit mother and her two young kids escaped a firebombing at their home early Wednesday morning that also left one firefighter injured.

Battalion Chief John Slabik said the home on Virgil Street was set on fire just after 3:30 a.m. -- and it appears to have been random, possibly even an early Angels' Night crime.

The mother, Shakira McKnight, was able to get her 5-year-old and 5-week-old children out of the home safely before firefighters arrived.

"She said the whole house was just smoking up, so they were just trying to get everything they could," said Viola Walk, the children's grandmother. "But they just got out, they just got out with the clothes on their back."

McKnight and her husband has five children total, but three of them were sleeping over at another family member's home.

A firefighter was hurt battling the blaze.

"Unfortunately, we did have a firefighter take a fall down the stairs. He has head and neck pain," Slabik said.