By Patrick Hedlund
DNAinfo News Editor
EAST VILLAGE — A man with a gunshot wound to the head was found by firefighters battling a blaze in an East Village apartment Wednesday afternoon, officials said.
The unidentified man was found in the bathroom of a fourth-floor apartment at 362 E. 10th St., between Avenues B and C, some time after the fire broke out at 2:49 p.m., police and fire officials said. A 32-caliber revolver was found near him, police said.
He was taken to Beth Israel Hospital and declared dead, police said.
The fire was under control by 3:56 p.m., the FDNY said.
Police said they do not believe there was any criminality in the death. They said the city's medical examiner will determine the official cause of death.
A spokesman for the FDNY said fire marshals were still investigating the cause of the blaze, and could not say whether there was a link between the shooting and the fire, which broke out on the fourth floor.
The building's owner, who declined to provide his name, said the fire originated in the tenant's fourth-floor apartment, which faces the street.
The owner explained that the man lived in the building for 30 years and was known as a "hoarder" who kept his apartment in disarray.
