{"id":177921,"date":"2026-03-28T02:09:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T02:09:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/177921\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T02:09:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T02:09:06","slug":"flushing-deadly-fire-that-killed-4-people-ruled-homicide-by-chief-medical-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/177921\/","title":{"rendered":"Flushing deadly fire that killed 4 people ruled homicide by chief medical examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">FLUSHING, Queens (WABC) &#8212; A <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abc7ny.com\/post\/flushing-fire-3-people-including-child-killed-building-queens-nyc\/18721456\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">fire at a three-story building in Queens<\/a> that left four people dead, including a 3-year-old girl, is now being investigated as a homicide.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The deadly fire happened around 12:30 p.m. on Monday, March 16, at a mixed-used building on College Point Boulevard between Avery and Pople avenues in Flushing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The fire killed four people, including 3-year-old Sihan Yang, 50-year-old Chengri Cui, and a 61-year-old woman and 63-year-old man, who have not been identified yet.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Officials say the Office of Chief Medical Examiner deemed the incident a homicide on Friday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">NYPD detectives, inspectors from the Department of Buildings and the fire marshal had already started a <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abc7ny.com\/post\/flushing-fire-neighbors-cite-squatter-problems-illegal-gambling-killed-4-including-child\/18726276\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">complex investigation into the deadly fire<\/a>, after it had been cited for illegal gambling and had a history of complaints for illegal conversions dating back to 1998.<\/p>\n<p>Darla Miles has the details on the fire in Queens that left four people dead, and many others injured.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Neighbors say they saw things escalate with the building two years ago when the original owner died.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">They noted there have been slot machines brought inside and squatters stealing electricity, as just some of the problems for this building.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">According to city records, the second and third floors of the building have been off limits as it was under a vacate order.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Neighbors say they&#8217;ve been complaining about squatters for years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, and no arrests have been made so far.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">*<a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abc7ny.com\/newsletters\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Get Eyewitness News Delivered<\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">* <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCrlIS7z20CnVaCrMvdkig_g\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> Follow us on YouTube<\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">* <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abc7ny.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">More local news<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">* <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/7ny.tv\/submitnewstip\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Send us a news tip<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">* <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abc7ny.com\/apps\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts<\/a>        <\/p>\n<p>Submit a tip or story idea to Eyewitness News<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? Send it to Eyewitness News using the form below.    If attaching a video or photo, <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abc7ny.com\/image-video-solicitation-and-rights-terms-of-use\/5101040\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">terms of use apply.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2026 WABC-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FLUSHING, Queens (WABC) &#8212; A fire at a three-story building in Queens that left four people dead, including&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[71972,9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-177921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-71972","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}