The 33-year-old man arrested for allegedly setting fire to a Bath Beach home, killing two people, maintained his innocence while being walked out of the 62nd Precinct by police on Monday afternoon.
Cops arrested neighborhood resident Alex Alive on March 25 in connection to the March 17 blaze at 159 Bay 29th St., between Bath and Benson avenues.
Firefighters responded just after 6:50 p.m. that Sunday to find heavy fire and smoke venting from the second floor of the four-story building. Authorities also discovered two unidentified men unconscious and unresponsive on the second floor of the home. Both men — whose identities are still being withheld by police — were pronounced dead at the scene.
Units consisting of 60 firefighters used three hose lines to knock down the main body of fire in a second floor apartment. Firefighters opened up the walls and ceilings of the fire apartment and three other apartments and found fire on the third floor.
The New York Post reported that one of the men was allegedly found with a stab wound to the neck while the other man had suffered severe head trauma. The NYPD did not substantiate the claims when asked by Brooklyn Paper, stating that their cause of death is pending a post-mortem examination by the Medical Examiner.
Alive was charged Monday with two counts of murder.
“I am not guilty,” he told press outside of the police station. “I didn’t do it.”
Additional reporting by Lloyd Mitchell and Adam Daly
