Local

Thieves steal from mother who dropped baby from burning apartment

STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga.,None — A DeKalb County mother who lowered her toddler by rope and dropped her baby into the arms of a stranger from a burning apartment building now says she's a victim for a second time.

Ashleigh Brown and tenants at the apartment building on Three Oaks Bend in Stone Mountain told Channel 2's Erin Coleman someone broke into their smoke-damaged homes on Sunday night and robbed them.

"DVDs, CDs, purses, pants, jewelry, rings. Anything they could get their hands on," Brown told Coleman.

"Somebody stoops down low enough to come and steal stuff like that. I don't understand it," she said.

Brown and eleven other families were forced out of their apartment on Wednesday. The fire was so intense that Brown was forced to toss her infant son out the window to a stranger and then lower her 3-year-old daughter with a rope tied to a window.

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Brown said maintenance crews boarded up the building and she was told that the area would be under 24-hour surveillance. The families discovered their personal belongings stolen when they were allowed to return to the building on Monday.

Maurice Daniel said thieves stole several thousand dollars in electronics from his apartment, including a television and his sister's laptop.

Tenants told Coleman that they still have to pay full rent, even though they can't live in their apartments. Coleman attempted to reach apartment management but her request for comment was not answered.

"Some units didn't even have smoke detectors that went off. They need to be accountable for some of it," Brown said.