‘Breathe ... heal.’ Community holds vigil with mother who lost 3 children in fire

Julia Coin
·4 min read
1

Bowed heads and raised hands Friday surrounded the Concord mother who lost her three children in a house fire days earlier.

Troves of people — nearly 200 — filled the historically-Black Logan neighborhood where Felicienne Kueviakoe’s children died.

The fire on Sunday killed 11-year-old Emmanuelle Kueviakoe, 15-year-old Stephen Kueviakoe and 16-year-old Daniella Kueviakoe just after 1 a.m.

First responders, teachers, neighbors and strangers filled the courtyard of the city’s housing department to pray, light candles and honor the lives lost.

Cristiano Gray, center, holds a candle during a vigil for the lives of three youth lost in an apartment fire on Sunday night at Chapman Homes in Concord, NC. The 17-year-old Gray rushed into the flaming home around midnight. When he did not hear a response, or a sound from a fire alarm, he stumbled outside and called 911.
Cristiano Gray, center, holds a candle during a vigil for the lives of three youth lost in an apartment fire on Sunday night at Chapman Homes in Concord, NC. The 17-year-old Gray rushed into the flaming home around midnight. When he did not hear a response, or a sound from a fire alarm, he stumbled outside and called 911.

The Chapman Homes duplex, owned and maintained by the city, was all her children ever knew, their mother said at the vigil. They boarded the same school bus at the same stop and played on the same playground for 10 years.

As she mourned next to the pastors speaking to the crowd, a friend’s hand never left her back. Others fanned her with folders, and a blonde child stationed next to her offered an oversized pink teddy bear.

“My children love this community, and this community loves my children,” she said through a tightening throat and damp cheeks. “And I love your support.”

Terry “Mosco” Benjamin, 46, remembers the children as a quiet but caring trio. The “bus dad” recalled the way Daniella would inquisitively look at people and how the neighborhood rallied together to help care for Stephen, who had autism.

He hoped those looking in from the outside would offer grace and decency to their mother. He’s heard too many negative remarks about why their mother wasn’t home, he said.

“We work,” he said. “And we do whatever it takes to take care of our children.”

Attendees pray during a vigil for the lives of three youth lost in an apartment fire on Sunday night at Chapman Homes in Concord, NC.
Attendees pray during a vigil for the lives of three youth lost in an apartment fire on Sunday night at Chapman Homes in Concord, NC.

A family friend has set up a GoFundMe page that raised more than $25,000 by Friday evening.

“Please help this mother bury her children,” Latresha Robinson wrote.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but neighbors remain concerned with why fire trucks — not fire alarms — woke them up. The property’s smoke detectors worked the last time they were tested in January, a city spokesperson told the Observer previously.

But the neighborhood’s management is slow to tend to maintenance requests, neighbors told The Charlotte Observer. The issues aren’t new, they said, but the tragedy has highlighted them.

HUD housing inspections in NC

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, an inspection was last performed in June 2022. The Observer has requested a copy of the inspection results from the department.

The inspections determine if communities qualify for continued benefits under its contract with the government, and “subtractions may be made from the overall score based on any present health and safety deficiencies,” according to the department. The inspections are done by the Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC), which checks the community’s site, building exteriors, building systems, common areas and units.

Chapman’s Homes barely passed its 2016 REAC inspection with a 60 out of 100 score. That’s 22.4 points worse than the average for North Carolina, according to ProPublica’s 2019 “HUD House of Cards” project.

One month ago, a woman evacuated her home when she smelled gas, but the carbon monoxide detectors never went off, Benjamin said.

Neighborhood leaders are also pushing for the city to fix a broken bridge that would have allowed paramedics to get to the burning home earlier. A petition, which started in June 2022, now has 1,000 signatures, and the Department of Transportation is speaking to the neighborhood Monday, Benjamin said.

With the crowd dispersing and children flocking to the playground, a group of teachers and students from Emmanuelle’s school, Wolf Meadow Elementary, walked up with a sign. ”Forever in the pack,” it said.

Several pastors asked attendees to pray for not only the family, but the community and its leaders. It’s times like these when people need to band together to address issues, they said.

As family, teachers, first responders and strangers sang “Thy Kingdom Come” at the end of the service, the sun shined through the clump of clouds that hung above the neighborhood Friday afternoon.

“Be mindful,” Benjamin reminded the crowd. “This is a time to breathe and to heal.”