A District of Columbia man was sentenced Friday to more than 35 years in prison for a 2019 row house fire that killed two tenants, including a 10-year-old boy, after he ignored repeated warnings about dangerous housing conditions at his property.
James G. Walker, 67, was found guilty in February of second-degree murder and multiple criminal building code violations in connection with the fire at 708 Kennedy Street NW. The sentence, imposed by Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman, also includes five years of supervised release following incarceration.
Walker owned the building but operated it illegally as a rooming house without a certificate of occupancy. Prosecutors said the structure had significant fire safety violations, including rooms without windows, inadequate smoke alarms, and security gates requiring keys on both sides, obstructing tenants’ ability to escape in an emergency.
Authorities said Walker had received explicit warnings from the Metropolitan Police Department five months before the fire, informing him that the building was unsafe for residential use and needed inspection and correction. He took no action to address the violations.
On the morning of Aug. 18, 2019, a fire began in the basement while three tenants were inside. Fitsum Kebede, 40, and Yafet Solomen, 10, were unable to escape and died of thermal burns and smoke inhalation. Prosecutors argued that Walker’s conscious disregard for tenant safety was the direct cause of their deaths.
Prosecutors cite egregious violations and fatal inaction
“The defendant’s knowledge of the danger posed by the conditions of the property and his conscious disregard of the extreme risk that death or serious bodily injury could occur were the but-for cause of the deaths,” according to the government’s case presented at trial.
Officials from multiple agencies—including the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the D.C. Attorney General’s Office, the ATF, and local fire and police departments—praised the work of the ATF Arson and Explosives Task Force in investigating the incident. Investigators found that the illegal modifications to the building, including the key-locked gates, directly contributed to the inability of the victims to evacuate.
The fire, which originated in the basement, was not effectively contained due to the lack of safety infrastructure. Officials emphasized that no functioning smoke alarms were present in key areas of the home, including the basement where the fire started and the victims were located.
The investigation revealed that Walker’s violations extended to structural and zoning regulations, including use of rooms too small to be considered habitable under D.C. housing codes. Despite warnings from city officials in March 2019, Walker did not bring the building into compliance.
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Officials credited several government and support personnel, including Assistant U.S. Attorney Nebiyu Feleke and members of the Victim/Witness Assistance Unit, along with IT and legal support teams who contributed to the prosecution.