Police investigating Saturday night fire in Southwest Baltimore after body is found

Baltimore Police arson and homicide units are investigating a Saturday night fire after firefighters found a man’s body.

Baltimore firefighters responded to the fire in a two-story commercial building on the 2500 block of West Lexington Street just after 11 p.m. Saturday and placed it under control by about 1:20 a.m., spokesperson Blair Adams said Sunday.

As crew members initially worked to battle the blaze from inside, the incident commander and safety officer noticed structural damage and ordered firefighters to evacuate, the Baltimore City Fire Department said in a news release Monday. Firefighters then extinguished the fire from outside.

Adams said on Monday that crew members did not receive reports of anyone inside the building as they fought the fire Saturday night, though the building itself is not classified as vacant.

Before noon on Sunday, a person called 911 and said that a man was inside the building when it went up in flames, the release said. Crew members returned to the building and found a dead man on the second floor.

Police arrived at the Shipley Hill building after firefighters found the man inside.

The cause of the fire is under investigation and the State Medical Examiner’s Office will determine the man’s cause of death.

Anyone with information is asked to call homicide detectives at 410-396-2100 or call Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7LOCKUP.