QUEENS — A Forest Hills family, whose vacant house recently burned down in what authorities said was a series of fires deliberately started by a man dressed like a "ninja," declared they won't be intimidated by the arsonist.
“We are going to rebuild,” said Ella Shimunova, whose 2-story home at 108-47 67th Drive was destroyed on Nov. 25.
“We like this neighborhood and our in-laws live here,” she added in a phone interview.
Her husband, Robert Shimunov, said that the family, including their four kids, ages 12, 15, 21 and 24, moved into their newly built house about 6 months ago but recently moved out to do some additional remodeling.
They are currently renting an apartment in Forest Hills.
“We miss our home,” Shimunova said.
The family arrived in the U.S. from Uzbekistan in 1993.
"We came to this great country to get a good life," said Shimunov, who works in real estate and also owns a neighborhood glatt kosher supermarket on 99th Street, he said.
The couple said they “don’t know who did it,” but they are hoping the police will catch the culprit before he sets another house on fire.
They also said they know other victims of the fires, who are all members of the tight-knit Bukharian community, but have never been close friends with them.
"We all know each other in this community," Shimunova said.
The fire at 108-47 67th Drive is one of seven recent suspicious blazes in the neighborhood. Investigators have determined that six of them were acts of arson. Four were in residential homes under construction, one was at the former Parkway Hospital building and one in a storage facility, police said.
Surveillance video released by police shows the suspect at the site of the Nov. 25 fire, where he is also believed to have left a note with a coded riddle which led investigators to another person who had nothing to do with the blazes, police said.
Based on that video, the suspect is described as being between 5-foot-6 and 5-foot-7, with a slim build and dressed in a hooded sweatshirt.
Another surveillance video from Nov. 17 captured at 108-49 66th Ave. shows the suspect wearing all black and carrying a backpack, entering a construction site shortly before the blaze erupted.
Some in the neighborhood fear that the arsonist is targeting the Bukharian Jewish community.
Most of the fires broke out at vacant buildings that were being renovated or under construction and clustered in the area between Jewel and 65th avenues and between Queens Boulevard and the Grand Central Parkway, in the section of Forest Hills known as Cord Meyer.
In the past two decades, the Cord Meyer area has seen a significant influx of new large and expensive homes, built mostly by Bukharian immigrants. The new homes — nicknamed "McMansions" — contrast with other older houses in the neighborhood which often feature Tudor and Georgian architectural styles.
Sources said that investigators are looking into a variety of possible motives, including anger against the new homes that some residents say do not match the neighborhood.
Rafael Nektalov, the editor-in-chief of The Bukharian Times, said he was familiar with the contention about Bukharian homes and worried that the fires may have been fueled by xenophobic sentiment against his community.
About 50,000 Bukharian Jews, who immigrated to the U.S. primarily from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, settled in Central Queens, mainly in Forest Hills, according to Nektalov.
The group began moving to the area in the 1960s, but the majority arrived after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s.
"Everyone has their own American dream," Nektalov said, referring to the recently built homes. "We came here because we like freedom. Why someone has to explain to us what our dream must be?"
Nektalov also said that the Bukharian community boasts many professionals, including lawyers, doctors, engineers and teachers. “It’s a very successful community," he said. "I’m proud of it."
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). All calls are strictly confidential.
