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Lontray Clark Charged With Murder After Austin Apartment Fire Claims Four Victims

He was arrested in Springfield after a Chicago police/ATF investigation traced the early-morning blaze to Molotov cocktails.

A demolition crew knocks down damaged sections of a building after an overnight fire killed four, June 26, 2025, in the 5200 block of West North Avenue in Chicago's Austin neighborhood. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
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Overview

  • Lontray Clark, 23, faces four first-degree murder charges along with counts of aggravated arson, attempted first-degree murder and residential arson.
  • He is scheduled to appear at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse today for a detention hearing ahead of trial.
  • A joint Chicago police and ATF investigation found that Molotov cocktails thrown after a domestic dispute ignited the early-morning blaze.
  • The June 26 fire at a three-story building in the Austin neighborhood killed a 5-year-old boy, two women and 76-year-old newspaper editor Brad Cummings.
  • The American Red Cross says the blaze displaced more than two dozen people from the 5200 block of West North Avenue.