Alleged arsonist charged for setting Flushing fire that killed four
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A Queens man was hit with a slew of charges for allegedly setting a Flushing building on fire and killing four, including a three-year-old girl. Screenshot via Google Maps
By Ryan Schwach
Queens man Roman Amatitla was charged on Thursday with starting a fire that killed four and injured seven in Flushing last month.
Amatitla, a 38-year-old man from Maspeth, allegedly set the Queens building ablaze and watched it burn while sipping a beer nearby. Prosecutors said Thursday he admitted to the crime and watching as people leaped from windows to avoid the fire.
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz called the incident “an act of mass murder.”
According to the charges, on the morning of March 16, Amatitla went to a nearby gas station, where he bought matches and a beer – while stealing another one – and went to the three-story building at 132-05 Avery Ave. in Flushing.
There, Amatitla allegedly lit a piece of paper on fire and placed the flaming paper on top of garbage located near a stairwell.
He stayed in the area and watched the building burn and smoke fill the street.
“Shockingly, the defendant had no known connection to the building or any of its occupants and selected the building at random,” said Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.
The fire claimed the life of Sihan Yang, a 3-year-old girl, who was on a third-floor bed and was pronounced dead at the scene.
A 49-year-old man, Chengri Cui, and a 61-year-old woman, Shin Chie Ming, were both discovered in the building and also pronounced dead at the scene.
All three died due to smoke inhalation.
Hong Zhao, a 64-year-old man, leaped from a building window and sustained multiple broken bones and brain trauma.
He was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital that afternoon.
Two members of the FDNY were also hurt. A lieutenant and firefighter, who entered the burning building to rescue those inside and fell to the basement when the staircase connecting the first floor to the second and third floors collapsed under them.
Four other building residents were injured when they jumped from the building in an attempt to escape the blaze. One of them remains in the hospital.
Amatitla was charged in a criminal complaint with eight counts of murder in the second degree, arson in the first degree, two counts of assault in the first degree, arson in the second degree, two counts of assault in the second degree and petit larceny.
He was arraigned before Criminal Court Judge Thomas Wright-Fernandez, who remanded him and ordered him to return to court April 13.
He faces up to 25 years to life, if convicted.
Gothamist reported the building had numerous issues, including trash-strewn hallways, leaks, debris-blocked stairways and was illegally subdivided. City records the outlet found showed a lengthy history of housing violations, fines and lawsuits tied to the building.
