The accused arsonist arrested for killing four people, including a 3-year-old girl, has no known connection to the illegally subdivided Queens apartment building or its residents where he set the blaze after swiping a beer nearby, police sources said Thursday.
Roman Amatitla allegedly set the fire by lighting a piece of wood he found inside the entrance of the building on Avery Ave. near College Point Blvd. in Flushing on March 16, the sources say.
Four people were killed, including a child, after a four-alarm fire broke out inside the building on College Point Blvd. in Queens on March 16. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
Before the blaze, the city Department of Buildings slapped a partial vacate order on the address because the owner had subdivided the second and third floors into multiple dwellings, officials said. More than a dozen squatters were living in the building at the time of the fire, authorities believe.
The fire quickly tore through the building, killing four people, including 3-year-old Sihan Yang and 50-year-old Chengri Cui. The names of the other two victims, a 61-year-old woman and a 63-year-old man, have still not been released.
Four people were killed, including a child, after a four-alarm fire broke out on College Point Blvd. in Queens on March 16. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
Neighbors saw flames shooting out windows as terrified residents leapt from the building.
“Something blew up,” Wadud Mohammad told the Daily News shortly after the fire. Mohammad, 59, works at a local gas station. “The whole roof was on fire. People were jumping from the building. Others were running across the street.”
One of the men died at a local hospital, while the other three victims died at the scene. Five firefighters, including two who fell through a staircase, were hospitalized with minor injuries.
Four people were killed, including a child, after a four-alarm fire broke out on College Point Blvd. in Queens on March 16. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
Seven surviving residents — three women and four men, ranging in age from 33 to 67 — were treated for burns, smoke inhalation and other minor injuries.
Amatitla, 38, was captured by U.S. marshals on Tuesday at his Maspeth home and charged with murder, assault, arson and petty larceny.
Neighbors said that the building had long been poorly maintained.
“That building is chaos,” said the 30-year-old worker, who would only identify himself as Eric. “The door is always open, like anyone can just walk in. No one was taking care of that house.”
Department of Buildings records indicate an inspection of the Avery Ave. address in 2020 revealed the owner improperly converted the two-family building into a seven-family building “by creating five additional single-room occupancies and nine additional bedrooms.”
Inspectors found the rooms “with key-locking devices, bed, TV, cooking equipment, refrigerators and food items in rooms,” before the partial vacate order was put in place, city records show.