Roman Amatitla, 38, was charged with murder, assault, arson and petit larceny in the deadly fire that erupted on March 16, sources said.
The NYPD identified 50-year-old Chengri Cui and 3-year-old Sihan Yang as two of the four people killed in the Flushing fire. The identities of the remaining two victims, a 61-year-old woman and a 63-year-old man, are being withheld until their families are notified of their deaths.
Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News
Three people were killed, including a child, after a four-alarm fire broke out inside a two story residence on College Point Boulevard in Queens on Monday, March 16, 2026. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
The city’s medical examiner ruled the four deaths a homicide on March 27. The fire broke out around 12:30 p.m. in a third-floor apartment on Avery Ave. near College Point Blvd. occupied by as many as a dozen squatters, officials said.