Queens Mom Set on Fire in Front of Kids

By JOE MOLLICA, REUVEN FENTON and LEONARD GREENE

An embittered ex-boyfriend doused a woman with gasoline and set her on fire in the doorway of her Queens home today as her horrified children looked on, officials and neighbors said.

The firebranding fiend knocked on the victim’s door in the Queensbridge Apartments shortly before 11 a.m. — after setting a hallway and a staircase on fire to prevent her escape, officials said.

When she opened her door, he then tossed the flammable liquid over her and then lit her with a match, authorities said.

"The mother was burned up pretty badly," said firefighter Dave Loeser, who helped rescue her.

"We heard the kids screaming in the bedrooms and got them out. He must have started the fire in the hallway to block them in and then threw gas against her door.

"The hallway was completely blacked out, and when we got there, there were kids screaming in the bedrooms. We think he was trying to trap her on the fifth floor."

Officials said the children, ages 1½ and 3, suffered smoke inhalation.

Firefighters found the woman on the roof of the six-story building. She was rushed to a hospital with burns to her legs and back. Her injuries were not considered life-threatening.

Police said her attacker was in custody but suffered burns of his own in the twisted assault.

Neighbors said the suspected attacker is the father of one of the children and had come by for a visit when an argument with the mother broke out.

They said he left and came back with the gasoline.

"He knocked on her door, threw gasoline on her lit a match and she went up in flames," said a neighbor, James Rivers, 42.

"I heard the screams from my apartment. She didn’t want anything to do with him, but he kept coming back like a stalker, and this is what happens."

The victim managed to get out and run upstairs, with her ex in pursuit. A sixth-floor neighbor took her in and doused the flames, and the attacker fled.

A source said he slipped in the gasoline while trying to flee and set himself on fire.