Community members rallied for justice for the six people who were killed in a fire at a hotel being used as a shelter for unhoused families in Endwell on Monday.

At about 6:00 A.M. on Monday, June 22, the Broome County 911 Center received multiple reports of a fire at the Knights Inn in Endwell, according to the New York State Police. The Broome County Department of Social Services was using the hotel as an emergency shelter for families experiencing homelessness.

The Endwell Fire Department arrived at the scene and found “heavy black smoke in the front of the building and flames showing from the rear of the building,” according to the NYSP report.

Nine other fire departments and four ambulance crews responded to the call. Members of the Red Cross were also at the scene handing out supplies to victims.

Six fatalities have been confirmed since the fire. The NYSP stated that their identities will be released at a later date.

A volunteer with the Red Cross said that about 37 households with a total of 73 residents have been displaced due to the fire. These victims are now being offered housing at Vestal United Methodist Church.

Community members gathered in front of the Broome County Office Building on Tuesday to protest the county’s use of the hotel as a homeless shelter. Participants carried signs that read “Homes not Hotels” and “Shame on DSS.”

“Not only was this a tragedy, it was predictable, and we believe an avoidable tragedy,” said Masai Andrews, a community member at the protest. “And we think that the local legislature and the county, the local governments, the Broome County office can do a lot more to make sure this doesn’t happen again, because frankly, the loss yesterday is unacceptable, and it’s up to us to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

The number of unhoused families in New York State has increased drastically since 2022, leading many counties and municipalities to rely on hotels and other temporary residences for emergency housing. In 2025, Broome County spent $9.5 million to place families in hotels.

“Six people are gone because warnings were ignored and code violations were allowed to continue,” a former resident of the Knights Inn said at the protest. “How many times were people forced to choose between unsafe conditions and having nowhere at all? How many cries of help were unheard?”

There have been numerous reports of issues within such temporary housing arrangements regarding safety concerns and access to resources. In 2025, there were 264 calls for police intervention at the Knights Inn, according to police records from the Broome County Sheriff’s Office.

In April, a report done by Spectrum 1 News found that three hotels in Broome County were housing families next to registered sex offenders. As of March 31, four level two and three registered sex offenders were living at the Knights Inn.

“It continues to worsen, and people continue to die, like yesterday, like the beating death of Peter Bennedum, like the clearing of the encampments,” said Travis Bryden, a representative from Binghamton University Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine. “It’s all connected, it’s all part of the same systemic failure. We can’t view them in isolation.”

Peter Bennedum was an unhoused man who was allegedly attacked by five teenagers in Binghamton last month and later died from his injuries.

Several other community members also gave speeches, highlighting the treatment of unhoused people in the U.S. and discussing institutional inequalities that these communities face.

“I want to talk on Martin Luther King Jr.,” said Jamar Johnson ‘03 at the protest. “He essentially discussed aiding the less fortunate, focusing on systematic equality. He argued that a great nation must care for the least of these, and that true compassion goes beyond merely charity to actually reconstruction of societal systems that produce inequality.”

Protesters also chanted “Jason Garnar is guilty” and wrote chalk messages on the sidewalks that read “Save the homeless” and “We demand justice.”

Last month, Broome County Executive Jason Garnar announced at a press conference that the county was searching for a company with expertise in addressing homelessness to work toward a more permanent solution.

“It’s really hard to know who’s in a motel or not, I mean, those are just not ideal places, but if there’s [nowhere else], I would rather somebody be in a motel than be on the street somewhere,” he said.

Garnar also said the county is in the process of developing more permanent housing units.

After an investigation and consultation with the Broome County District Attorney’s Office, the New York State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation arrested Tyler J. Russell, 24, on charges related to the fire at approximately 8:26 p.m. on Monday. Russell is now in custody at Broome County Jail awaiting arraignment on one count of arson in the fourth degree and six counts of manslaughter in the second degree.

“That is not justice, locking that man up who’s also the same side of everybody else, like, no, that’s not just it,” a member of the community said at the protest. “The system needs to hold itself accountable, or the people will.”

The Office of the Broome County Executive did not respond to request for comment. The Broome County District Attorney’s Office declined to comment.

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