The State Fire Marshal determined Friday the house fire that killed a mother and her daughter with cerebral palsy early Thursday morning was intentionally set.

Katrina Moore, 44, and her 20-year-old daughter, Coleman Moore, were killed in the blaze that was determined to be arson after lab results tested positive came back positive.

“We’ve had people burn down abandoned houses for no reason, we’ve had people set fire to dumpsters … but in the 18 years I have been here, we’ve never seen somebody intentionally set fire to a house with people in it, especially older people and a special needs child,” said Lt. Sam Miller with the Selma Police Department.

The fire started early Thursday morning around 4 a.m. on the corner of Pettus Street and Gary Avenue with five people inside the home. Miller said one resident was in a wheelchair and was awake watching television when the house went up in flames.

Three of them were able to make it out. Coleman Moore, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, was pronounced dead at the scene, and her mother died later at Vaughan Regional Medical Center. Dallas County Coroner Alan Dailey said Thursday an autopsy will determine their cause of death.

Miller said Katrina had to be pulled out of the house by two officers after she collapsed while trying to escape.

“In order for her to leave, she had to unhook from the dialysis machine,” Miller said. “My understanding is she collapsed, and when officers got there they saw her laying in the floor, and they ran in there and got her and drug her out.”

Miller said the department is now setting its sights on finding the person responsible for setting the fire and killing the mother and daughter.

“You’ve got somebody out there responsible for doing this for whatever reason,” Miller said. “For somebody to do something like this, it tears at everybody.”

The department is working to put together leads and are asking for help from the community.

“We just want anybody that’s got any information about anybody that’s sorry enough to do something like this to call our Secret Witness line or Crime Stoppers,” Miller said. “Whoever this is, we need to get them off the streets because anybody who would intentionally set fire to a house with a special needs child inside it, needs to be put in jail.”

Miller said whoever is responsible for setting the fire will face two capital murder charges and up to six attempted murder charges for the other three people inside the home and three firefighters that were trapped inside when the roof collapsed.

Police encourage anyone with any information to call the secret witness line at 874-2190 or Crime Stoppers at 1-866-442-7463.