lorena xtrava
( VIC NICASTRO / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS )/( VIC NICASTRO / NEW YORK DAILY
An apartment blaze in East New York Brooklyn claimed the life of a transgender performer.
Facebook photo of Lorena "La'reina" Xtravaganza killed in a Brooklyn fire on Furman Street.
A gutsy passerby rescued a terrified Brooklyn woman and her 8-month-old grandson from a suspicious apartment fire that killed their transgendered neighbor early Saturday.
Katrina Evans, 46, was trapped with the little boy by a balky fire escape ladder in the 4 a.m. smoke and darkness outside her third-floor apartment.
“Flames were coming out the windows, glass was shattering everywhere,” recalled Evans — and then Good Samaritan Eduardo Leonardo appeared from nowhere.
“He saved my grandson and brought us down the fire escape," said Evans, who lives on the floor where the fire erupted. “He actually grabbed my little grandson and helped us down to safety.”
Leonardo, 28, was driving in his car when he saw flames shooting out of the Furman Ave. building in the night sky.
“It was burning like crazy so I stopped my car in the middle of the street,” said Leonardo. “I saw this woman with her grandson trying to come down the fire escape, but it was stuck.
“I helped them down and thank God they're OK now,” said the humble hero. “I'm so happy that they're OK right now."
The infant’s father also escaped from the East New York blaze, while the boy’s mother jumped from the fire escape before Leonardo arrived — hoping that she could shake the ladder loose from below.
“The ladder was jammed and we had to get out some way to try and get to safety," said mom Princess Evans, 26. "I'm alright, I have some cuts, but I'm OK ... The fire was blazing.”
A source said the blaze — which killed Evans’ 25-year-old neighbor, who went by the stage name Lorena Xtravaganza — was considered suspicious.
The dead woman’s cousin and two friends wept as her body was brought out of the four-story building.
“She’s a showgirl,” said relative Robert Rodriguez. “She’s beautiful, sexy, gorgeous. She’s done photo shoots all around the world. Right now, I’m just trying to gather my words, thoughts, everything.”
A neighbor said Xtravaganza just returned from vacation in Puerto Rico.
The dead woman’s two roommates also managed to escape the fire in their apartment above the Harvey Funeral Home.
One said he was awakened by the smell of smoke after falling asleep while watching television.
“As soon as I smelled smoke I woke up and grabbed (the other roommate),” the man said. “I grabbed my phone, I opened the front door and we just ran out.”
The fast-moving blaze quickly spread throughout the apartment, filling the place with thick smoke.
Evans, an NYC Transit employee, said she knew the dead woman for several years.
“She's a transgendered person, a woman,” Evans said. “She's very nice.”
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/good-samaritan-saves-grandma-infant-grandson-blaze-killed-transgender-peformer-article-1.1077005#ixzz1uhYg3H6e
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