Man whose wife and son were injured in Brooklyn building collapse wants answers: ‘The building had no reason to collapse on its own’

The world came crashing down around Anderson Velez’s family Wednesday when the Brooklyn Multipurpose Building where they resided collapsed.

Video of a baby monitor showed his terrified sons and wife, Joanna, inside their third-floor apartment as the walls opened and collapsed. CBS News also obtained surveillance video showing the building and storefront collapsing.

Eight peopleaged 9 to 31, died in the collapseincluding two children. 18 others were injured.

Joanna Velez remains hospitalized, as does their 9-year-old son, Pablo Alvarez, who is recovering from surgery following a severe head injury. Miraculously, their 2-year-old son Joseph Alvarez survived with barely a scratch.

Anderson Velez, who was not home at the time, told CBS News that his fear when he heard about the collapse was that his children had “lost their lives.”

The building where the Velez family resided collapsed onto an adjacent construction site and also ripped off the side of another building in the process.

Today, the search for answers and accountability is ongoing, as the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office has opened a criminal investigation into the incident.

The collapsed building had 98 open violations, according to the files of the New York City Department of Buildings.

The same agency had also ordered a contractor earlier this year to stop ongoing demolition work at the adjacent construction site. When the contractor continued demolition work despite the stop-work order, the Building Department issued a violation in April.

In May, however, the violation was corrected and the stop-work order was lifted, the Buildings Department said.

That contractor, Townhouse Builders, has been sued at least 67 times since 2012, according to court records reviewed by CBS News.

“Buildings don’t just collapse without systemic failures,” New York City Council member Farah Louis said at a news conference Friday. “Especially when records show a building with nearly 100 open violations located next to a dig site cited for violating a stop work order.”

Anderson Velez believes ongoing construction work at the nearby site led to the collapse.

“There was no reason for the building to collapse on its own,” he said.

Asked what his thoughts were when he saw the video of the collapse, Anderson Velez said, “Honestly, I still watch it and tears come to my eyes.”

CBS News reached out to the owner of the collapsed building for comment but did not receive a response.