Roy Riley Jr., 28, still remembers when he first met his fiancée, Raheem Muhammed, at Calverton Middle School when he was only 10.
She was a vision in her dyed-green hair and Army fatigues.
“She was different,” Riley said. “When Valentine?s Day came around, I got her a rose and box of candy and I asked her if she would be my Valentine. She said ?Yes? and we?ve been together ever since then.”
Raising their two children ?Royelle Riley, 9, and Mesiah Muhammed, 7 ? the couple had a wedding scheduled for Valentine?s Day next year. Raheem was two months pregnant with another little one on the way.
But that wedding will never occur because Raheem?s and Royelle?s lives were cut short July 14 in a fire at about 3 a.m. at 1903 North Forest Park Avenue. Raheem?s niece, Markia Summerfield, 7, also died in the blaze.
Roy Riley filed a $52.3 million lawsuit Monday against his apartment company, accusing his landlord of failing to install working smoke detectors in the building.
Baltimore Fire Department spokesman Chief Kevin Cartwright said the cause of the blaze is under investigation.
David Ellin, Riley?s attorney, called the deaths “preventable” if Blue Fountain Apartments had properly installed smoke detectors.
Blue Fountain Apartments equipped only three of the 12 units in the apartment complex with smoke detectors, two of which didn?t work, according to the lawsuit.
A representative of Blue Fountain Apartments could not be reached for comment.
After the blaze, Riley was displaced, distraught and living in a homeless shelter, Ellin said.
“Since I took a great loss, somebody?s got to pay for it,” Riley said. “I will always feel pain.”
