Video: Oranjula Shanklin’s Older Sister Thanks Community For Support

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COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – Firefighters continue to investigate what sparked the deadly Jamestown Apartment fire in East Columbus.

Now, a family is planning a funeral and coping with loosing 11-year-old Oranjula Shanklin.

“She was pounding on the window and I could see smoke flames and we were yelling trying to tell her to listen to our voice, to follow our voice,” said Oranjula’s older sister,  Latavia Smith, as she remembers that tragic day.

Those are the last horrific moments 15-year-old Latavia Smith remembers before her sister and friend, Oranjula Shanklin, was killed in the Jamestown Apartment fire.

The family of four came down the stairs of their town home and fell to the floor.

That’s when Shanklin was lost in the heavy smoke and flames.

Her mother, brothers and sisters began frantically looking for something to break the window.

“Me and my brother, we were looking for a brick and my mom was trying to bust her car doors so she could find something inside her car, so she could bust the window because she was right there by the window. By the time we did find one brick big enough to bust the window, the fire had spread everywhere,” said Smith.

Now, the heartbroken family is living with relatives in Columbus.

They’re overcome with grief but their spirits are lifted from the outpouring of support.

“I just want to say thank you to everybody that has been praying for us, we’re going to make it through but my sister was a very good person.”

Funeral arrangements are incomplete at this time.

A vigil is planned for 6 p.m. tomorrow at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepard, right across the street from the apartment complex.

The Red Cross is handling donations for fire victims, but if you would like to donate any items to the family, you can do so at their temporary address:

1013 5th Street South
Columbus, Mississippi

The family is in need of all donations.