SOUTH CHICAGO — A person of interest has been released without charges in the deadly South Chicago fire that killed three kids Tuesday, according to Chicago Police.
The fire broke out in an apartment complex overnight Tuesday in the 8100 block of South Essex Avenue, killing three children and an adult man, according to authorities. Officials described the blaze as suspicious and were investigating it as arson.
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At the scene of the fire on Tuesday morning, Chantel Staples, who said she was an aunt of the children killed in the fire, identified the children as Shaniyah Staples, 7; Madison Watson, 4; and Melanie Watson, 3 months.
A fourth person, identified as Kirk Johnson, 56, died in the blaze, according to Cook County Medical Examiner's Office records.
Johnson's death, as well as Melanie's, have been ruled a homicide, according to the medical examiner.
A "person of interest" in connection to the deadly blaze was questioned by police as early as Tuesday morning, police said at the time. On Thursday, the person was released without charges, said Officer Jose Estrada, a Chicago Police spokesman.
No one is in custody, he said. The investigation into the fire is ongoing.
Meanwhile, family and friends of those lost in the fire are trying to raise money for burials for the deceased.
Kasey Daniels, who said she was the aunt of the three girls, hopes to raise at least $30,000 through a GoFundMe campaign. Her sister was the girls' mother, she wrote, and she hopes the money can give the girls a proper burial and help provide for their parents, who lost "everything" in the fire.
The father of two of the girls was also wounded when he tried to jump from the third floor during the fire while holding Melanie, Daniels said. He was "critically injured," he said.
"Words cannot describe the feeling of being a mom the night you leave for work, and getting a call to come to the hospital only to hear that all of your children are no longer here on earth," Daniels wrote on the GoFundMe page.
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