Building owner called to court after Roseland fatal fire

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A judge ordered tenants out of the building where four children died in a fire early Monday morning.

"It's the worst nightmare that can ever happen to anybody. We are, ourselves, feeling very saddened and . . . our really heartfelt sympathies. I don't know what to say," Dr. Tahir Sheikh, building owner, said.

Dr. Sheikh was summoned to housing court Tuesday for an emergency hearing after the fatal fire at 112th and Vernon. Sheikh said in court he believed all the earlier building code violations had been corrected by last month. Tenants and the city disagree.

"Look at the door. Look at my door. This is what saved me. This is what saved me and my baby," Darlene Jones said. She lives directly below the apartment where the four children died and directly across from the apartment where the blaze began.

With her door closed, the flames raced up the stairwell and through an open door into Shamaya Coleman's apartment where children were trapped in a bedroom.

"There's no way they can go this way. There's no way they can go that way. Neither way. They (were) caught," Jones said.

Coleman's four children were killed: Carliysia Clark,15; Carlvon, 13; Shamarion, 12; and Eri'ana Smith

They do not relate directly to the fire, but there are clear code violations in Jones' apartment: exposed wiring, broken door handles, and a back door with no deadbolt lock. That prompted Jones and her upstairs neighbors to use a two-by-four to block the back door. The landlord says his management firm told him the code violations were cleared.

"I really don't know all the details. Our management company takes care of it," Dr. Sheikh said.

"It's obviously not accurate. There's code violations since June and we were there yesterday and there's more," Judy Frydland, Chicago Law Department, said.

Those violations include missing smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, although there were some working detectors in the hallways.

"I would tell him to manage his own property and quit dealing with all these outsiders cause he don't know what's going on in this building," Jones said.

The absence of working locks in parts of the building has bearing on this fire. The second floor apartment where the blaze began has a front door that had been kicked in, wouldn't close, and neighbors said they'd complained that non-residents were coming and going.

The building is now - at least temporarily - in the hands of a receiver. All the residents have to find new housing.

Fire officials said an open flame caused the fire, but have yet to determine exactly what it was.

A GoFundMe page has been established to raise money for the children's burial and services: http://www.gofundme.com/e8xib4.