The Associated Press
CICERO, Ill. — Murder and arson charges have been filed against the owner and manager of an apartment building in a Chicago suburb where seven people died in a fire on Valentine’s Day.
Cicero Police Superintendent Lori Lelis says the building’s owner, Lawrence Myers, was having problems with the Internal Revenue Service and told the building’s manager, Marion Comier, to “take care of the building.”
The 60-year-old Myers and 47-year-old Comier were charged Thursday with seven counts of first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated arson.
Both are scheduled for bond hearings Friday. Police say it’s unclear if they have attorneys.
The blaze gutted the two-story, five-apartment building. A man and woman, their two children, the woman’s 16-year-old twin siblings and a friend were killed.