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An alleged Mexican illegal migrant was charged with murder and arson after he allegedly killed four people by setting fire to a New York City apartment building.<\/p>\n
Roman Amatitla, 38, was charged with \u201ceight counts of murder in the second degree, arson in the first degree, two counts of assault in the first degree, arson in the second degree, two counts of assault in the second degree and petit larceny,\u201d according<\/a> to a press release from Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.<\/p>\n The charges brought against Amatitla come after he allegedly \u201centered the ground floor of a three-story building\u201d in Flushing on March 16. Amatitla proceeded to stay \u201cin the vicinity of the property\u201d for several minutes, urinated, and \u201centered and exited the premises\u201d several times before going to a \u201cnearby gas station,\u201d according to the press release.<\/p>\n While at the gas station, Amatitla \u201cpurchased a beer, stole another beer and asked the clerk for a lighter,\u201d however, he \u201csettled for a pack of matches.\u201d Amatitla went on to enter the apartment building \u201cfor a fourth time,\u201d where he \u201clit a piece of paper on fire and placed the flaming paper on top of garbage located near a stairwell,\u201d according to the press release.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was an act of mass murder,\u201d Katz said in a statement. \u201cAs alleged, Roman Amatitla deliberately set a fire in an occupied building and killed four people, including a 3-year-old girl. Shockingly, the defendant had no known connection to the building or any of its occupants and selected the building at random.\u201d<\/p>\n