Twin baby boys dropped from burning New York building, caught by neighbor

A New York man said a neighbor dropped his twin infant sons from the third floor of a burning apartment building early Wednesday into his waiting arms. Brothers Israel and Ishmeal Codner, each 11 months old, were caught by Jermaine Shirley as the fire spread through the building in the Williamsbridge section of the Bronx, the New York Daily News reported. Shirley, 30, a postal worker, said he was on his way to work when he smelled smoke in the building. He banged on the doors of all the apartments and he got his wife and child out safely before turning back when he heard the twins' father, Everdean Codner, 32, calling for help from his third-floor apartment. Codner, perched on a fire escape, dropped the babies to Shirley, who had climbed atop a building extension still nearly two stories below. "I told him, 'Drop the baby,'" Shirley said. Asked what he was thinking at that point, Shirley replied, "Nothing, I was just ready to catch." Shirley later attributed his action to "instincts. They just kicked in right away." Fire marshals were investigating the cause of the fire. There were no serious injuries, the newspaper said.