On one side of the room, Balmer encountered a locked double door, the only barrier between him and the rest of the house. He would later tell police that, if he had encountered Shapiro, he would have attacked him with the sledgehammer. But, when he tried kicking the doors open, the lock held. The fire, meanwhile, was spreading rapidly. Balmer broke a third window and fled. He’d been inside for a little more than a minute.journey-inline-newsletterinline-newsletter