(CHICAGO) A man has been charged with arson in connection with a fire at a business Tuesday morning in the Lake View neighborhood on the North Side.
Eric Howard, 22, has been identified as the person who was seen entering a secured building’s stairway in the 3200 block of North Sheffield about 11:55 a.m., then exiting after a fire started, according to a statement from Chicago Police.
Howard admitted that he used a lighter to ignite carpeting in the stairwell and also ignited a bag inside a dumpster at the building, police said.
No one was injured in the blaze, police said.
Howard, of the 6300 block of South California, has been charged with two felony counts of arson damaging property worth more than $150, police said. He was scheduled to appear in bond court Thursday.
