This browser does not support the Video element.
This browser does not support the Video element.
CHICAGO (Fox 32 News) - A man was found dead after a fire at a home on the city’s Northwest Side, and investigators are trying to determine how the man ended up with a gunshot wound to the head, according to a source close to the investigation.
The fire started in the 4800 block of N. Keystone Ave. at about 12:30 a.m. Monday, according to officials. Fire crews struck the fire in about a half hour.
A source familiar with the details of the investigation said the man was alive when crews arrived and was heard yelling for help from a window in the basement, where he lived due to mobility issues related to a medical condition, neighbors said. His family lived upstairs.
Crews were unable to gain access to the area where he was, so they directed him to the back of the home, the source said. Once fire crews gained access during their initial search of the home, the man was found dead with a single gunshot to the head.
The man is identified as Antonio Zepeda, 39.
“That’s horrific I would not wish that on any family,” said Christina Puzzo, a neighborhood resident who said she heard the commotion of arriving first responders not long after the fire began.
Fire investigators said the cause of the fire is still under investigation, but believe it to be accidental in nature so far.
Working smoke detectors were found on the upstairs floor of the home, but not in the basement, according to a spokesman for the Chicago Fire Department.
Chicago Police referred questions about the investigation to the Chicago Fire Department.