Man accused of luring firefighters into gas-doused home charged with attempted murder
CHICAGO - Attempted murder charges have been filed against a South Side man accused of luring two firefighters into a home doused with gasoline and pulling a knife on them.
Melvin Jordan, 47, was also charged with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated unlawful restraint and unlawful use of a weapon, police said. Jordan, who was once convicted of murder, is due in court Friday.
On Tuesday afternoon, a battalion chief and a lieutenant responded to a car fire in the garage of Jordan’s home in the 7700 block of South Marshfield Avenue in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood, according to police.
After the fire was put out, Jordan told the two that he smelled gas in his basement and asked if they could check on it.
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"You go first," the chief told Jordan, who grabbed a battery-operated screw gun and removed a solid wooden board blocking the basement entry, according to Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.
Once in the basement, the firefighters said they did not smell gas and saw Jordan "quickly" retreating upstairs, Langford said. They followed and, at the top of the staircase, Jordan confronted them with a large knife. They also detected the strong odor of an accelerant and saw the doors of the home were boarded up.
"He ordered them back in the basement," Langford said. Instead, the firefighters began struggling with Jordan. Eventually, the battalion chief was able to get on the radio and alert crews outside and police.
Firefighters broke a window, jumped in and pulled the two firefighters to safety. Jordan, meanwhile, barricaded himself in a bathroom with two knives and an empty gun holster. After telling authorities he wanted to harm himself, firefighters broke down the door and Jordan was arrested and taken to a hospital.
Court records show Jordan was sentenced in 2007 to 35 years in prison for murder and an additional six years to be served consecutively for attempted murder. Court records show that he was granted a new trial in 2019 after arguing he was not effectively represented by his lawyer.
A judge ordered his bail set at $450,000 after vacating the conviction and Jordan was released on bond, records show. A date for a new trial has not been set.