The Chicago Police Memorial Foundation has recognized the work of more than a dozen CPD officers involved in the investigation into an arson fire that resulted in the death of a 32-year-old Chicago firefighter last month in an apartment building in Rogers Park.
Arthur Hannus, the Executive Director of the foundation, said Area Three detectives and officers in the Area 3 Technology Center did "remarkable work" on the investigation into the arson fire that took the life of firefighter Michael Altman, leading to charges against a suspect.
"Working around the clock, detectives conducted numerous interviews and learned that 27-year-old Sheaves Slate had previously trespassed at the location of the fire," Hannus said. "Simultaneously, members of the Area 3 Technology Center scoured hours of surveillance video and retrieved images from the area of the fire. Through the video, Slate was tracked before and after the fire."
Fire commissioner Annette Nance Holt thanked the officers who stood next to her in the lobby of the building housing the memorial foundation on the near-west side.
"You figured it out for us," Nance-Holt said. "And although it will not bring h
im back, it will let the family know we do have somebody in custody who did this, who made this a living hell for everybody. So thank you for what you do every day."
Sandra Wortham, the President of the memorial foundation board, also thanked the officers for their work.
"Our hearts, thoughts, prayers are with Firefighter Altman and his family," Wortham said. "We just are honored to be able to honor you all for the work that you do every single day but that is seldom acknowledged."
Prosecutors said the suspect had been in an altercation with building residents on the day before the fire and said they were "going to pay."
He previously lived in the three-story building on the 1700 block of West North Shore Avenue and, according to prosecutors, sometimes squatted there.
Prosecutors said he admitted he set fire to a mattress in the basement of the building and then left.
Altman fell through the first floor into the basement while fighting the fire and suffered severe burns. He died the next day.
Slate was charged with first degree murder, felony murder, aggravated arson and residential arson.
