A cab driver man has been charged for an apartment fire in the Far North Side Rogers Park neighborhood January 14 that killed a man and injured five others. Prosecutors said Mahad Hassan, 26, set the fire because of an on-going dispute he was having with his neighbors.
Hassan, who lived in the burned apartment building at 6720 N. Sheridan Road, was charged with first degree murder, aggravated arson and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.
During a Sunday bond hearing, prosecutors said the fire was set in the hallway of the fifth floor, where the body of Noor Sorani was found.
On Thursday, Hassan allegedly poured gasoline in the hallway, near the door of two women he had been fighting with recently and investigators found a gas can in the stairwell that had his fingerprints on it, prosecutors said. Sorani's death from smoke and soot inhalation was determined to be a homicide, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.
Belmont Area Bomb and Arson detectives arrested Hassan Friday on the North Side, based on witness interviews and other information, police said. He was carrying a loaded handgun.
Five other people were injured in the fire, including a man who tried to escape by jumping from a window.
