Mother Who Confronted Son During Riots, Family Displaced By Fire

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — She received national attention and even support from the president. Toya Graham was caught physically removing her teenage son from participating in the Baltimore unrest in April 2015. Now, she faces a new battle, one that could leave her family of six homeless.

Graham is no stranger to fighting battles, most notably, the one involving her 17-year-old son, Michael Singleton, more than a year ago.

In the midst of the unrest near Mondawmin Mall after the death of Freddie Gray, Toya spotted her then-16-year-old son and forced him out of the chaos between Baltimore police and dozens of teens. This time around, Toya’s battle is finding a place for her and her family to live.

The kitchen to the home where Toya and her family of six have lived since April caught fire Saturday afternoon while her son, Michael, who is now home from Job Corps, was cooking.

Michael says he was warming up a pot of cooking oil when he left for just a few minutes to go to the bathroom just off the kitchen. When he returned… “The pot is smoking, it was like smoking, so I went to go reach for it and then it burst out into flames,” Michael said.

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