PITTSBURGH — The mothers of five children killed in a house fire surrendered to police Thursday to face involuntary manslaughter charges for leaving the youngsters alone while they went to a bar.
Wearing a T-shirt saying "Mommy Loves You," Shakita Mangham, 25, arrived at municipal court early Thursday. Furaha Love, 25, turned herself in at police headquarters a short time later.
Authorities concluded that the children were not left with a baby sitter the night of the June 12 fire, as Mangham had initially told police. Authorities said the early morning fire was started by children playing with matches.
Love's attorney, Ernest Sharif, called the charges unwarranted.
"We're in a very emotional climate right now," the attorney said Thursday. "Five children died. Automatically people want to make the connection it was her fault. But from a legal standpoint, it was not her fault."
He said Love was "a loving parent who did something she regrets, but she didn't kill the children."
Mangham's attorney, Jim Ecker, said he would comment after his client was arraigned Thursday.
Police charged Love and Mangham on Wednesday with five counts of involuntary manslaughter and one count of making false reports to police. They are also charged with reckless endangering firefighters and endangering the welfare of children.
The children killed in the fire were identified as Daekia Holyfield, 7; Cedano Holyfield, 4; Dezekiah Holyfield, 3; Azequel Rankin, 5; and Andre Rankin, 6. Two 8-year-old boys who were also in the home that night escaped uninjured.
Mangham was the mother of the three Holyfield children and lived in the house. Love was the mother of the Rankin children.
Sharif has said that Love and Mangham left the children for 15 to 20 minutes and that Love had one beer at the bar.
"It wasn't a party thing," he said.