Heartbreak for a mother and her Pinellas mobile home community after her 41-year-old son died in a fire. Neighbors tried to save him, but couldn't.
Investigators said the fire started in a bedroom of a mobile home on 46th Avenue North.
"We tried to get him out, but just couldn't do it," Allison Younkof said.
The Pinellas County Sheriff's office said 41-year-old Randy Reed was trapped inside the burning mobile home.
"We heard this big loud boom like an M80," Younkof said. "Flames were shooting out...we kept yelling for him and he kept yelling help me and me and another guy broke the door with a broom handle and unlocked it but the black smoke just came barreling out."
Reed's mother was devastated. She said she wasn't home when the fire started.
"I don't know what happened," Paula Thomas said.
Thomas said her son had paranoid schizophrenia and was on medication. She said he loved his family.
"He had a good heart, I don't know what to tell you," Thomas said.
Friends in the tight-knit community, now comforting a grieving member.
"I just hope that Randy's up there with god now so Paula doesn't have to suffer anymore it's so sad," neighbor Marlene Yinger said.
Thomas' daughter out of state is also hoping Reed is at peace.
"She said, mom, He wasn’t happy, she said now, he’ll be happy, she kept telling me, I’m so sorry mom, she’s worried about me,” Thomas said.
The state fire marshal's office is still investigating the cause of the fire.
