Two adults and two kids were killed in a fire in Chicago on Wednesday morning that police say may have been set intentionally.
“My family was a family, we stuck together,” said Antonio Wilson, whose parents were two of the four people who were killed in the early morning fire that destroyed their home at 6204 S. Paulina St. in Chicago’s West Englewood neighborhood.
Police said both the parents sustained sustaining “severe burns” in the fire and were transported to a local hospital in critical condition before they were pronounced dead.
Wilson says his mom, Lisa Brown, was a longtime foster parent who had guardianship over four kids in the house. Two of the kids, 8-year-old Royalty Rattler and her 15-year-old brother Ja’quan Rattler, were also killed in the fire, the family said.
A 14-year-old and 16-year-old were also transported to a local hospital from the fire and are now stable, according to police.
“They didn’t deserve this, her birthday was coming up,” Wilson said. “These are innocent people that you targeted, for nothing.”
The house appeared to be badly burned, with blackened, charred pieces of wood and broken windows left behind in the aftermath of the blaze. Children’s toys and games could be seen in the yard of the home.
Firefighters and neighbors said they helped rescue two of the older kids from the burning home, catching them from a window.
Police are conducting an arson investigation into the fire as it appears to have started outside the home, authorities said, though no suspects have been named.
Chicago police are asking neighbors on the block to check doorbell camera video to see if they caught anything suspicious.
