Little Village Homeowner Cited With 40+ Violations, Mother Of One Fire Victim Speaks Out
CHICAGO (CBS) -- City building inspectors are going after the owner of the Little Village home where a fire killed ten children last Sunday, hitting him with more than 40 violations at his property.
Most of the violations are on the building that is at the front of the property. The children were all in the building at the back when the fire started. Meantime the mom of one of the victims spoke out about the incident for the first time since the incident Friday.
As the memorial to the ten young victims of the fire at 2224 South Sacramento grows, Victor Mendoza's mother is still struggling to cope with the fact that he is gone. The 16-year-old was her youngest child.
"He was a young, good man. Very respectful to the community," Sonya Ramirez, Victor Mendoza's mom stated. "I didn't expect that I was going to wake up tomorrow, the next day, and my son was not going to be alive."
Mendoza and the nine other victims, ages 3-months old to 14-years-old, were sleeping in the building at the back of the property when a fire started early Sunday morning.
Monday, inspectors hit the building's owner with six violations.
A follow-up inspection of the front building on Tuesday found 38 additional violations, including obstructed exit ways, missing smoke detectors, and missing carbon monoxide detectors.
Mendoza's mom thinks the city is focusing on the wrong thing.
"It doesn't matter about the violations. It's about what you're going to find that created the fire," she said.
As the investigation into what caused the fire continues, so does an investigation into who was watching the children when the fire started.
The Department of Children and Family Services confirmed all four of the children's mothers are under investigation for neglect because of the deadly fire.
"Nobody sees. Everybody wants to point a finger, but nobody wants to find a solution in how did it happen," Ramirez said. "I know there's purpose why God did what he did. He didn't take my son's life in vain."
The building owner's lawyer says they only learned of the violations Friday from media reports, so he was not prepared to respond to the allegations.
The first of the funerals for six of the victims is scheduled for Saturday.
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