Robbers hit Lake View apartment burned in fire

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Robbers broke into a Lake View apartment building on Saturday - one day after the building was partially damaged in a structure fire.

"It's just stuff, it's just stuff, but what we had left was our stuff and our life," said Christiana Schmidt, who lived in the building.

Four people were critically injured when a broke out Friday morning in the six-unit building located in the 3400-block of North Janssen Avenue. Two people jumped from the third floor to escape.

Fourteen residents were displaced, but their belongings were still in the building, which was boarded up when robbers decided to break in. Schmidt and her roommate's stuff was taken.

"We got a call from one of the neighbors, downstairs neighbor, that said the looters had come overnight," Schmidt said. "On the second floor, she had a bunch of stuff stolen. She had all of her valuables, diamond rings and stuff."

On Monday, some of the displaced residents spent the day re-installing the wooden boards. Some filled black plastic garbage bags with their leftover belongings.

"It's really invasive just to think that this happened and somebody went in and went through all our stuff," Schmidt said.

The fire started at about 2 a.m. Friday when Schmidt woke up to someone screaming in the back apartments. A man had broke the window and jumped out the window, grabbing wires on the way down.

"He saved a dozen people. He really did. He's the hero," said Bill Schmidt, Christiana's father.

While fire inspectors are investigating the cause of the fire, residents are now looking for new homes and reeling from more bad news.