A mom, a disabled son and a home that blazed amid Baltimore’s riots

Black soot covers the two-story house like a shadow. The roof has collapsed, and a bright red sign proclaims that the home has been condemned.

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Until a few weeks ago, when the riots roiled Baltimore, the house at Hilton Street and Piedmont Avenue was home for Laporsha Lawson and her severely disabled son, Khai’Lee Sampson. The liquor store adjacent to Lawson’s home started burning about 1 a.m. April 28. Lawson awoke, raced up the stairs to grab her son and rushed him to her parents’ home about a block away moments before flames engulfed the house. More...