“Oh God!” Tony Huggins Jr. cried to the sky in front of the charred house on Fultz Street where his family perished just days ago, as a group of tearful people surrounded him in embrace.
Emotions ran high at a candlelight vigil Saturday night for the Boggs and Huggins family, seven of whom died in a blaze early Monday.
Dennis Huggins, 35, and Angela Boggs, 38, lived at the house with their five children: Cameron Huggins, 1, Alivia Huggins, 3, Kyle Huggins, 5, Daisia Huggins, 6, and Jared Boggs, 14. None of them survived the blaze.
Tony Huggins, Dennis’ nephew, was one of more than 250 family and community members who attended the vigil.
Angela Boggs’ surviving daughter, Brittany Boggs, 18, and Dennis Huggins’ surviving son, Tyennys Huggins, 20, were both at the vigil for their parents.
“I want to thank everybody for coming out,” Brittany Boggs said between tears and hugs from an endless stream of people offering comfort. “I miss my family a lot.”
Tyennys Huggins was there with his girlfriend, Ariana Hunter, and their two children, Tyrese Huggins, 3, and Tyriq Huggins, 1.
Tyennys Huggins said he lived in the house with the rest of the family until a few weeks ago, when he moved to Goodyear Heights.
“I’m doing a lot better,” Huggins said. “The support is just unreal.”
Cars filled the streets leading to the house. People packed onto the front lawn of the home and, with candles in hand, gathered around one of the sole trees in the yard.
On it hung two collages filled with photos of the family smiling and laughing with each other. Brittany wrote messages to both Dennis and Angela on the collages.
For her mom: “Mom, I wanna apologize for EVERYTHING I put you through over the years. I love you and I never thought I’d be losing you. I hope your [sic] having a great time in heaven. FOREVER MY ANGEL.”
And for Dennis: “Dennis, I know we never saw eye to eye. I appreciate the fact you keep my mom happy and made me a big sister. Keep my mom safe and take care of the babies.”
Several community officials attended the vigil, including Mayor Dan Horrigan and Love Akron Network Executive Director the Rev. Mark Ford.
“I don’t know when our city has felt the impact of a tragedy as our city feels now,” Ford said before leading a prayer during the vigil. “Our language is our tears, so let them flow.”
Tony Huggins, Dennis’ brother, was the sole family member to step up in front of the crowd and say a few words.
He expressed his gratitude for the support from the community and called for the two families to stand together in their time of tragedy.
“They were raised as one family and they lived as one family,” so the extended members needed to unite as one family, Tony Huggins said.
He recalled the days the kids would come to his house to play with his children and grandchildren, running through the house and giving each other makeovers.
“They had slumber parties at my house,” Huggins said. “It’s days like that we’re going to miss.”
Tiffney Gary, a neighbor of the family, also stepped up and called for the two families to find strength in unity.
Gary lived down the street for four years and said her young kids grew up with the Boggses and Hugginses.
“They didn’t cause no trouble. She was a working mom,” Gary said. “They were nice people just all the way around.”
The outpouring of sadness, though, didn’t overpower the underlying fear felt by neighbors regarding the situation.
Investigations into the cause of the fire are ongoing, but with another fatal fire on the same street just a year prior, investigators have yet to rule out arson.
“It’s a lot of fear not knowing who did this. We’re wondering if someone else is going to be next,” Gary said.
“I hope whoever this is, they catch him. That’s all anybody in this neighborhood can hope for.”
Theresa Cottom can be reached at 330-996-3216 or tcottom@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @Theresa_Cottom