{"id":191835,"date":"2026-04-10T05:40:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T05:40:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/191835\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T05:40:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T05:40:34","slug":"accused-arsonist-charged-after-deadly-queens-fire-kills-4-including-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/191835\/","title":{"rendered":"Accused Arsonist Charged After Deadly Queens Fire Kills 4, Including Child"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"AnThe charred remains of a matchbox serve as a grim reminder of the deadly arson attack that shook a Queens community.Queens Today<\/p>\n

A 38-year-old man has been charged with murder and arson after allegedly setting a random fire in a Queens apartment building that killed four people, including a 3-year-old girl, and injured seven others. Prosecutors say the suspect, Roman Amatitla, was seen entering and exiting the building multiple times, buying beer, and then watching the deadly blaze he allegedly started.<\/p>\n

Why it matters<\/p>\n

This tragic incident has shaken the Flushing community and raised questions about mental health, public safety, and the need for stronger fire prevention and response measures, especially in densely populated urban areas.<\/p>\n

The details<\/p>\n

According to authorities, Amatitla entered the Avery Avenue building several times on the morning of March 16, at one point urinating outside the apartments. He then went to a gas station, stole a beer, and used matches to allegedly light a piece of paper on fire and toss it into a stairwell. As the building became engulfed in smoke, Amatitla allegedly stayed nearby and watched as people jumped from windows to escape the flames.<\/p>\n

The fire occurred on March 16, 2026.Amatitla was arrested and arraigned on April 10, 2026.<\/p>\n

The players<\/p>\n

Roman Amatitla<\/p>\n

A 38-year-old man from Maspeth, Queens, who has been charged with eight counts of second-degree murder and first-degree arson for the deadly fire.<\/p>\n

Melinda Katz<\/p>\n

The Queens District Attorney, who called the incident an “act of mass murder” and noted Amatitla had no known connection to the building or its occupants.<\/p>\n

Gabriel Reale<\/p>\n

The Queens Assistant District Attorney, who said Amatitla “watched as people jumped from various windows, some of them living, one of them dying” while sipping on a beer.<\/p>\n

Thomas Wright-Fernandez<\/p>\n

The Criminal Court Judge who remanded Amatitla into custody.<\/p>\n

Sihan Yang<\/p>\n

A 3-year-old girl who was killed in the fire.<\/p>\n

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\n What they\u2019re saying<\/p>\n

\u201cShockingly, the defendant had no known connection to the building or any of its occupants and selected the building at random.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Melinda Katz, Queens District Attorney<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defendant “watched as people jumped from various windows, some of them living, one of them dying” while sipping on a beer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Gabriel Reale, Queens Assistant District Attorney<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next<\/p>\n

Amatitla is scheduled to return to court on April 13 for further proceedings in the case.<\/p>\n

The takeaway<\/p>\n

This horrific incident has left the Flushing community in shock and raised urgent questions about mental health resources, fire safety, and the need for stronger measures to prevent such senseless acts of violence in the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Got story updates? Submit your updates here. \u203a The charred remains of a matchbox serve as a grim…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":{"0":"post-191835","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-queens","12":"tag-queens-headlines","13":"tag-queens-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191835","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=191835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}