Roman Amatitla, 38, was arraigned and held without bail after prosecutors accused him of setting a deadly fire in Queens that claimed four lives, including a 3-year-old girl. Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz called the act "an act of mass murder." Amatitla was charged with arson and murder during his arraignment Thursday. Authorities say he had no known connection to the building or any of its occupants and selected it at random.
Amatitla told investigators he started the fire "as a way to get his rage out over being fired," according to the criminal complaint. Prosecutors say he also told detectives that "he had been in a fight at work and that he knew lighting the fire was going to cause harm to someone, but he did it because he needed to get his anger out." They say he recently lost his job working in the food industry.
Authorities say Amatitla was captured on surveillance going in and out of the fire building three times, urinating in front of the location at one point. He then walked across the street to a BP gas station, bought a beer and matches, and stole a second beer, officials say. Authorities say when he returned to the building, he lit a piece of paper on fire at the bottom of the first floor stairwell, placed the flaming paper on top of garbage, and watched the fire ignite inside the first floor hallway.
Soon after that, residents were jumping for their lives from windows. Hong Zhao, 64, jumped from different windows to escape, suffering multiple broken bones and brain trauma and dying from blunt force trauma to the head and torso. Three other residents — 3-year-old Sihan Yang, 61-year-old Chie Shin Ming, and 49-year-old Chengri Cui — were discovered unconscious and unresponsive inside the building and were pronounced dead of smoke inhalation at the scene. Another person suffered serious burns to his hands and body, bodily trauma, and a traumatic brain injury from jumping out another window.
During a court hearing on Thursday, Queens Assistant District Attorney Gabriel Reale said Amatitla "watched as people jumped from various windows, some of them living, one of them dying" while sipping on a beer, according to a report from the New York Post.