Philadelphia pizza shop owner charged with arson for allegedly setting blaze that killed firefighter

A Philadelphia firefighter died trying to put out a blaze at a local pizza shop. Now, the shop owner has been charged with starting the fire.

Al-Ashraf Basem Khalil, 28, has been charged with one count of malicious damage by means of fire of a building used in interstate commerce resulting in death, one count of aiding and abetting and willfully causing the same, and one count of making materially false or fraudulent statements, the Department of Justice announced Tuesday.

Khalil’s Star Pizza went up in flames early on June 18, according to officials. Eight people were evacuated from the apartments upstairs in the three-story building and the fire was under control within an hour. But while Lt. Sean Williamson, a few other firefighters and a city building inspector stuck around to survey the damage, the building collapsed, trapping Williamson in the rubble and killing him.

Emergency personnel respond to the scene of a building that caught fire then collapsed.

Surveillance footage later obtained by investigators shows two suspects walk behind a dumpster minutes before the fire broke out and enter the building through a basement door, according to the DOJ. Twenty minutes later, the same two men were captured on film leaving the building as the smoke billows.

In an interview with police, Khalil allegedly lied about where he was when the fire started. The clothes he was wearing at the time matched that of one of the suspects in the surveillance footage.

A day after meeting with investigators, Khalil booked a flight from JFK Airport to Amman, Jordan, with a layover in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the DOJ said. He flew out but was denied entry in Amman and sent back to the United States, where he was arrested Friday at the Queens airport and extradited back to Philadelphia.

The remains of Lt. Sean Williamson, a 27-year veteran of the Philadelphia Fire Department, are brought from Epiphany of Our Lord Catholic Church ahead of a procession and funeral mass in Philadelphia Monday. (Matt Rourke/)

“We respond to more than 3,500 structure fires annually, and the majority are unintentional. However, intentional fires are still a problem: last year, more than 650 incendiary incidents were investigated by our Fire Marshal’s Office in close partnership with the Philadelphia Police Department and ATF,” Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel said in a statement.

“This incident demonstrates the tragic consequences of arson. Our thoughts remain with Lt. Williamson’s family, friends and PFD colleagues as this case moves forward and justice is served.”