Fatal fire dims joy for triumphant Detroit high school

Cortez Burrell, with a simple smile and infectious spirit, had become the unofficial face of Cristo Rey High School.

"I was always taking great pictures of him," said Naomi Howrani, director of development at the small Catholic school in southwest Detroit. "He's got this great personality. I used to say, 'God, I can't post another picture of Cortez. Let's see if we can find something else.' "

She rarely could, and she wasn't the only one drawn to him.

A month ago, his smiling face was caught by a Free Press photographer as he and his classmates celebrated a remarkable achievement — a 100% acceptance rate to college. The 58-member senior class gathered in the school's gym to celebrate with cake and have their photos taken. The class was featured in an article by Free Press columnist Rochelle Riley last month.

On Monday, the senior class gathered in the gym again, this time for principal Sue Rowe to break their hearts. She told them that 17-year-old Cortez had died from injuries he received in a house fire Friday that killed his 12-year-old brother, Quartez.

Their twin sisters — whom Cortez doted on and looked after at Cristo Rey and who weren't at the house at the time of the fire — were pulled from class just before the school meeting.

"Word was spreading," Cristo Rey President Michael Khoury said Monday. "So Sue told the faculty and then called the student body in. There's no way you can say it nicely. She told them the importance of them being supportive of each other and the importance of praying. It was a hard thing for the kids to hear. They took it hard."

School officials had arranged for Slow's Bar B Q to serve lunch Monday, but what they worried might seem insensitive actually worked to the school's advantage.

"First, I thought it was terrible," Khoury said. "But it was a real comfort. When the kids came into the gym to get their lunch, they were just silent. But as they received their food, they began to talk, and it gave them a chance to open up and not keep it bottled up."

Cortez died at 12:41 a.m., according to the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office. Three days earlier, firefighters arrived at his house in the 8200 block of Lyford to find the house engulfed and his younger brother, Quartez, dead. Quartez's death was ruled accidental, resulting from smoke inhalation and burns. Cortez's autopsy was scheduled for Monday. Results were not available.

School guidance counselor Hillary Sesi said Cortez was "a great student" who always looked out for his 15-year-old twin sisters, who are sophomores at the school.

"He just always wanted to make people laugh and smile," she said, adding that he had plans to join the Navy a week after graduation.

The small school's goal is to provide students with the same education they would receive at an expensive private school and get them into college. Cortez, who spent all four years there, had been accepted to Oakland Community College.

Cortez worked at Ser Metro, an organization that helps people develop skills and get jobs. He was an intern who assisted an instructor in the YouthBuild Construction Institute, helping young people with low incomes get GEDs and learn job skills by building homes for homeless and low-income people, said Glenda Magarrell, project director.

"We're devastated," she said. "We're really shocked at just how quickly he was taken. ... He was really a youth of great promise."

Cortez liked playing basketball, but was not a member of the school team. A quiet kid, he became a kind of big brother to lots of students.

"He was quiet, but had a dry sense of humor, and a lot of people felt he looked out for other kids in the school," Khoury said.

After the fire Friday morning, Cortez was treated at Detroit Receiving Hospital. Friday afternoon, fellow students began visiting the hospital — and they kept coming.

"Students started visiting Friday evening, then Saturday, then Sunday, just hoping to be with him," Khoury said. "For a limited time on Saturday, some students did have a chance to see him."

As Cristo Rey heals, school officials are focusing on helping Cortez's family heal, too, Khoury said.

The family lost everything in the fire, which fire officials said Monday was electrical and appears to be accidental. Cristo Rey supporters and corporate partners began making donations immediately, Khoury said. The money will be used to help the family pay for medical, funeral and relocation costs. The American Red Cross is providing temporary housing.

Khoury said the school is setting up a fund to help the Burrell family with medical and funeral expenses, with information to be available on its Facebook page.

"He was a good kid, and I can tell by the reaction by his fellow classmates just how much he'll be missed," Khoury said.

Habitat for Humanity, which employs the boys' father, Cortez Burrell Sr., also set up a GoFundMe page to support the family.

"Cortez was a real part of our family here," Khoury said. "And his loss has been felt by everybody at the school."

Staff writers Ann Zaniewski and Lori Higgins contributed to this report.