MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A woman is facing attempted murder and arson charges after police said she tried to set her sister’s northwest Miami-Dade apartment on fire while she and two others were inside.
Miami-Dade police responded to a residential fire just before midnight Friday at an apartment building near the 1200 block of Northwest 103rd Lane, in the county’s Pinewood area.
Recommended Videos
Upon their arrival, police said their initial investigation determined that the fire was intentional.
The fire started on top of a dresser located on the southeast side of a bedroom of the apartment where investigators found miscellaneous burnt items, detectives said.
Investigators spoke with a woman who said that she and her sister, 49-year-old Faytrell Gamble, of Miami Gardens, formerly lived in the apartment together.
The woman told detectives that she allowed Gamble to stay with her since she did not have a proper home to live in.
Authorities said Gamble was residing in the bedroom for only one day when she invited a male friend to come to the apartment.
The victim told Gamble that she was uncomfortable with a random unknown man inside her home and asked Gamble to tell her friend to leave, according to the arrest report.
The victim told police that Gamble’s friend left without any issue, but this caused Gamble to become irate and start arguing with her.
Several minutes later, police said the victim heard the apartment’s fire alarm go off and witnessed Gamble sweeping the floor just outside of her closed bedroom door.
The victim told police that she called out to her boyfriend who tried to open the door because he saw smoke coming from Gamble’s room, but the door was locked, per the report.
The victim’s boyfriend then grabbed a fire extinguisher that was mounted just outside Gamble’s bedroom window and put the fire out, the report stated.
The victims inside the home told police that Gamble did not alert anyone inside the apartment to call 911 or assist in any way to help extinguish the fire, police said.
The victim and her boyfriend told police that Gamble was the only one inside the room when the fire occurred.
Gamble told police that the victim’s boyfriend created the fire and began to give conflicting statements, according to the report.
When speaking to detectives. Gamble told them that the victim’s boyfriend started the fire from outside through the window by reaching his hand through a small “crack” in the window frame, police said.
Gamble told investigators that the glass panels in the window were intact before the fire and were broken after it took place.
Gamble said she did not see the victim’s boyfriend return to the scene after the fire or commit any act that tied him to the incident, according to police.
After detectives inspected the window to investigate the crack, they noticed they could not turn or manipulate their hands in any way once inside.
Police said the curtain formed a fixed barrier between the opening and the dresser which would have not allowed any objects to be thrown on top of the dresser.
They also noticed a crack that was on the left side of the window while the dresser was pushed against the east wall and slid over close to the south wall, creating a distance of approximately four feet from the opening to the point of origin on the dresser, the report stated.
Gamble’s arrest report states that she was the only one at the apartment who was taken into custody after the incident occurred.
According to jail records, she is facing two counts of attempted murder and one count of first-degree arson.
As of Friday, Gamble is being held without bond at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
