2 men dead in Brooklyn Brownstone fire, family searching for answers

BROOKLYN, N.Y. (WABC) -- Two people were found dead in a suspicious fire in a Brooklyn Brownstone Tuesday night.

Police said Thursday that an accelerant was used and the deaths are being investigated as homicides. No arrests have been made.

Around 10 p.m. Tuesday, police responded to a fire in the 100 block of Hancock Street. Firefighters were already on the scene.

Three individuals were rescued from the fire.

Tyrone Corley, who lived in the home, was brought to Kings County Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. A 47-year-old man, Stanley Wilkie, was taken to Interfaith Memorial Hospital for smoke inhalation and died from his injuries on Wednesday.

"My brother Tyrone was larger than life," said Wynona Corley, the victim's sister.

"Tyrone is a special kind of guy, you know, he was selfless," the victim's friend said.

Tyrone Corley was 56 years old. Friends and family say he was filled with a love for music that was both his career, he was a professional DJ, and his passion.

But he was killed, when a fire police believe was intentionally set, left him trapped in his top floor apartment. He jumped from the top floor of the apartment as the flames closed in around him.

"The people in the building were screaming, could not get out. Nobody could come out. They were trapped in there," Wynona Corley said.

"I saw the building on fire and then I just started screaming, 'My uncle lives in there, why aren't you going to get him, why are you just standing there?' And they were asking me his name, and I said, 'Why are you asking me his name, just go get him,'" said Kiara Corley, the victim's niece.

It's not yet clear who started the fire or why, but it took so much more than a building.

"You know, he just touched the lives of so many people," the victim's friend said.

He was extremely successful as a DJ and even played at the Apollo, but he never moved away from Bedford-Stuyvesant and his family who loved him.

Two women who have not been identified were taken to Kings County Hospital for smoke inhalation; both are stable.

The building is four stories. After the fire was put out, the interior looked to be gutted.