Eric Howard, 22, charged in Lakeview fire

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A 22-year-old man was charged with arson after police identified him as the person who tried to set a North Side business on fire.

Eric Howard was allegedly seen going into a business in the 3200-block of North Sheffield Avenue in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood just before noon Tuesday.

He admitted to using a lighter to set the carpet in a stairwell on fire and to starting a fire in a bag inside a dumpster, police said. No one was hurt.

Howard, of the 6300-block of South California Avenue, was charged with two felony counts of arson damaging property worth more than $150.

He is due in bond court on Thursday.