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Jan 9, 2009 6:08 pm US/Central
Molotov Cocktails Damage Basketball Star's Home
(WCCO)
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The fire quickly worked its way up, traveling through the ceiling to the upstairs.
CBS
Police are still looking for the people responsible for throwing molotov cocktails inside a North Minneapolis home.
It happened in a flash on Dec. 27 around 9 p.m. The home belongs to the family of Khalid El-Amin. He was a star at North High, celebrated a championship with UConn, and went pro with the Bulls. He's still playing ball in the Ukraine while his family here tries to understand a ruthless attack.
Charles El-Amin was sitting on the now-charred couch when the bombs came into the home from a back window.
"I heard the window break. Something crashed to the floor. When I looked up another one came through and it said 'Boom!'" recalled Charles El-Amin.
"I was like, 'Dad come on let's go, let's go,'" said Kamillah El-Amin Shabazz.
She was upstairs in her bedroom when she heard the unexpected.
"The second one came in and it exploded," she said. "The third bottle came in, but it did not ignite and it was here on the floor and it was still intact with the cotton inside the bottle. The smoke just turned from white, kind of a gray, to a black and it just filled this whole room."
The fire quickly worked its way up, traveling through the ceiling to the upstairs.
"I thought about trying to put it out and it was just moving too fast for me," said Charles El-Amin.
The place where the fire did the most damage is where the family kept Khalid's basketball memorabilia.
"Everything that was over here in this corner is gone. We had all types of things over here, and this is what's left," said Kamillah. "There's a lot of sentimental things that are gone now of my brothers trophies and some of his pictures and things like that."
Police don't think the family was the intended target, but that's no consolation.
"This was totally uncalled for and unacceptable," said Kamillah.
A couple of days earlier, several pipe bombs exploded at a house four blocks away. But police don't think the two incidents are related.
"People need to know, they need to be able to lookout watch and their eyes are out for this type of behavior," said Kamillah.
Right now the family is just glad they were able to make it out.
"The house can be repaired. But my life?" said Charles El-Amin.
The El-Amin's just couldn't catch a break. One day after the fire, crooks broke into the house stole some TVs. The family is now staying at a hotel.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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