Chicago cabdriver charged in fatal Rogers Park fire

A Somali?..hawiye cabdriver allegedly set his Rogers Park apartment building on fire last week because of an ongoing dispute with two neighbors, officials said of the blaze that killed a man.Mahad Ali Hassan, 26, of the 6700 block of North Sheridan Road, was charged with first-degree murder, aggravated arson and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. Hassan, who has lived in Chicago for three years, was ordered held without bail Sunday by Cook County Circuit Judge Peggy Chiampas.Hassan, who lived on the fourth floor of the five-story building, had a long-running dispute with two women who live on the floor above him, prosecutors said. Hassan spray-painted an obscenity outside the women's apartments and broke into their mailboxes two weeks ago, prosecutors said. On Thursday, Hassan allegedly poured gasoline in two places in the fifth-floor hallway.A witness who saw Hassan flee the staircase shortly before the fire said he seemed "out of breath and startled," Assistant State's Attorney Mariano Reyna said..The witness, who ran upstairs to help rescue people, found a gas can between the second and third floors. Hassan's fingerprints were later found on the gas can, prosecutors said. The man who died was identified by his family as Noor Surani, 49.

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