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The 7-year-old boy who was severely injured during an apartment fire in Pleasant Grove earlier this week has died.
Emergency crews responded to the fire at the Sholana Ridge Apartments around 1:45 p.m. in the 8000 block of Chariot Drive Wednesday afternoon.
The 7-year-old boy was rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead Thursday night.
While investigators haven’t ruled an official cause of the fire, residents say they know what caused it.
Before the complex went up in flames, residents say they smelled gas in the area and heard a loud boom.
The apartment complex had been without gas for three weeks. And soon after, maintenance turned the gas back on Wednesday.
Marquise Hopkins says he heard screams from a woman who was bleeding.
"She said her son was in the apartment. So right then, my instincts were to kick the door in and try to go get her son, which was in the tub at the moment,” he recalled. “But it was so much flame and smoke, I couldn't, we couldn't get in there."
"There were residents outside screaming that there were children still inside the apartments,” said Jason Evans with Dallas Fire Rescue.
Firefighters carried a 7-year-old boy from one of the six units destroyed in the fire and handed him over the paramedics who performed CPR before rushing him to the hospital.
The boy's mother and baby sibling were also injured and taken to a hospital.
Single mom, Matanya Evans, is thankful her son, who was home at the time, is safe. However, they’re belongings are not.
"All my belongings, my kids clothes, everything I bought for them for school, it's ruined,” she said. “How's she going to get to school tomorrow? How's my son going to get to school next week?"
Two firefighters were injured. One was treated for heat exhaustion and the other cut his hand.
ATMOS Energy workers took samples of soil to measure gas levels. After the fire was put out, residents still complained about the smell of gas in their units and were concerned another fire could ignite.
"It's all due to that gas leak,” said resident Tammy Evans. “They shouldn't have turned the gas on without having the fire chief here."
Apartment management walked away when we asked questions. They later put up a sign on the leasing office door that said the office would remain closed.
FOX 4 contacted ATMOS Energy for comment, but have not heard back. Residents say the workers were not with maintenance when they turned the gas back on.