Video: Community Remembers Fatal Fire Victim

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COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) –  An early morning apartment fire claims the life of an 11-year-old girl. The blaze completely destroyed at least four apartment units, and several more have smoke damage. The residents of the east Columbus apartment complex are shocked at the loss the young girl.

“When I opened the door, I couldn’t say nothing, the only words I could say are, ‘Oh, God,’ then I saw all the flames just coming out of the house,” said Kenneth Martin, a resident of Jamestown Square Apartments.

Jamestown Square Apartment residents spent much of Wednesday looking at the charred apartments. It’s a small complex, where most everyone knows their neighbor.

Martin says he saw 11-year-old Oronanjula Shanklin Tuesday.

“She was playing with my dog, she always asked about my dog, can I touch my dog then I let her touch it, and she just always kept a smile on her face. Very friendly,” said Martin.

The sixth grader was found in the living room of the apartment she called home. She was an honor role student, and it was her first year at Columbus Middle School.

Several families are now homeless after having lost everything they owned.

Others are grieving for a little girl, or recovering from burns, thankful to be alive.

Martin hopes the community will help their neighbors in need.

“And that we all come together and work together to become a better community,” said Martin.

Firefighters, policemen and neighbors frantically banged on doors when the fire broke out at about 2 a.m. this morning — then rescued everyone they could help.

Hours after the blaze, firefighters made sure it didn’t rekindle and began the painstaking process of trying to figure out how the deadly fire started.

“It will be a couple of days before we actually get all our reports together, gather our info, sit down, talk about it, look over it, make sure we try not to leave any stone unturned, so we’re going to do our very best,” said Columbus Fire Chief Martin Andrews.

The Red Cross is assisting families impacted by the fire. Anyone in need of assistance can contact the local Red Cross office at 662-328-5710 or by contacting their 24/7 helpline at 855-891-7325.