Police Suspect Arson After Man Found Dead In Chatham Apartment Building Fire; 'It's Just Evil'
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago police are investigating a fast-moving fire in a Chatham apartment building as an apparent case of arson, after a 50-year-old man was found dead Saturday morning.
The fire started shortly before 3 a.m. on the second floor of an apartment building at 83rd and Drexel, police and fire officials said.
A tenant who asked to be identified only as Theresa said she was in the middle of playing a game on her phone to relax before bed, when her cousin came in running.
"He's banging on the bedroom door, 'Get up! Get up!'" she said.
Theresa said the fire spreading through the apartment building's hallway was so bright, so ravenous, she didn't even have to open the door to see it.
"I could see the flames from the peephole," she said.
In the time it took to put on her boots, the flames had already gained ground, devouring their hallway, trapping them from leaving through the front door.
"Had there not been a back door to this apartment, we would all have been perished," she said. "I just thank God. I thank God."
Several other families made it out using the back stairs, but one man living on the floor above where the fire started did not.
After firefighters extinguished the flames, they found a 50-year-old man in a third-floor apartment.
"They brought him out on the stretcher. At that point, they were trying to resuscitate him, but unfortunately he didn't make it," Theresa said.
The man was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition, and was later pronounced dead.
Police said investigators determined the fire was arson.
Theresa said that finding make the loss that much more bitter of a pill to swallow.
"I cannot grasp the thought. It's just evil, inconsiderate, and no respect for life," she said. "He is someone's father, someone's husband, boyfriend, friend, father, you know?"
Tenants said, before the fire broke out, they heard a loud fight and a chaotic night.
"I was coming out of my sleep from hearing the music that woke me up, and hearing the doors slam; consistently, one, two slam. And then, all of a sudden, I had heard the fire alarms going off," said one woman who asked to remain anonymous.
The Chicago Fire Department said it was still investigating the cause of the blaze. It could be as long as a week until the results are in.
No other injuries were reported, but two adults who live in the building were left homeless. The Red Cross was providing assistance to those tenants.