By Christine Armario
Newsday (New York)
Copyright 2006 Newsday, Inc.
A Port Jefferson teen has died from injuries he suffered during last week’s house explosion in Lake Grove, and police are re-examining the cracked gas pipe they originally said caused the fire.
Christian Tramontano, 17, was pronounced dead at 8:20 p.m. Sunday at Stony Brook University Hospital. He was one of seven people injured last Tuesday evening when a fire erupted from an illegal basement apartment.
Because of Tramontano’s death, the case has been handed over to Suffolk’s Homicide Squad. In addition to the death, police are probing the gas pipe leading to a basement stove. Det. Sgt. Edward Fitzgerald of Suffolk’s Arson Squad said that since the explosion they had received additional information that has led them “to believe we should take a second look.”
Gerald Lotto, the village’s attorney, said they would be filing charges against the homeowner, Farry Sharif, for several state and village building code violations that they believe contributed to the fire.
Among those were no emergency exits or egress windows, no smoke detectors and poor ventilation, he said last week.
“I’m just very, very angry and saddened by it,” Lotto said of the death.
Of the seven people injured in the explosion, only one, Michael Gerenstein, was a tenant. Gerenstein, 21, was still in critical condition at Stony Brook yesterday evening.
The other injured individuals were identified yesterday by police as Marianna Gardaphe, 19, of Bellport; Kevin Gianninoto, 19, of Nesconset; Michael Goble, 18, of St. James, David Greenridge, 18, of Nesconset; and Sean Raynor, 24, of Sound Beach. Relatives declined comment.
Neither Sharif nor Tramontano’s family could be reached for comment.
The pipe has been sent to the county’s crime lab for a forensic analysis, Fitzgerald said. The explosion followed an ongoing dispute between the village, neighbors and Sharif about the apartment. Lotto said that since January, Sharif had been asked to evict her basement tenant because single-family homes in the village are not allowed to be divided.