A job loss pushed a man over the edge, but the way he unleashed his anger ended up taking four innocent lives

With rising mental health issues and increasing frustration among people, intolerance has become a common aspect of society. We have heard of cases where this frustration sometimes manifests as anger, leading to difficult situations. A similar sort of incident happened in Queens when a person named Roman Amatitla, 38, committed a crime by setting a building on fire to get his frustration out, which led to multiple deaths in the residential building. He has been arrested and charged with multiple counts of murder and arson, as per the press release from the Queens District Attorney’s Office.

According to People, Authorities claimed that he set the garbage on the first floor on fire, leading to a huge fire spreading to all stories, causing the deaths of four people, including a 3-year-old child. According to initial reports, he had no connection to anyone residing in the building and admitted that he acted out of frustration after being fired from his job. Surveillance footage confirmed that he lit the fire, and after that, he went to a gas station to have two beers, then came back to see the thick smoke.

Authorities are not giving any room for Roman to get away with it, Queens DA Melinda Katz said: “This was an act of mass murder,” “As alleged, Roman Amatitla deliberately set a fire in an occupied building and killed four people, including a 3-year-old girl.” Further investigations are underway, but the details of the incident show the horrific image of the unfortunate event.

A huge fire injures several and kills four, including a 3-year-old child

We thought a son killing his mom with a hammer was disturbing, but this case is nothing less. Amatitle has accepted that he set the fire and declared that he put the fire out of frustration to let it out, but ended up setting the whole building on fire in the process. Toddler Sihan Yang was found on a third-floor bed and pronounced dead at the scene. On the other hand, Hong Zhao died after jumping from a window to escape the fire and suffering blunt force trauma, as reported by the medical officer.

Multiple others have jumped from the upper floors to escape the fire and were injured in the process. One person was reported to have suffered broken ribs along with leg injuries due to the jump. The FDNY, who had previously gotten into a brawl with the NYPD in a hockey match, also got their members injured when the staircase collapsed while they were trying to control the fire. 

Even though police declared that the accused had accepted that he had set the fire, he is still pleading not guilty to his actions, but he was arraigned on charges including eight counts of second-degree murder and arson. He has been called in court on the 13th of April to face charges which could lead to a potential life sentence.