A Rogers Park arson case now centers on what happened in the hours before Michael Altman fell into a basement fire.

CHICAGO, Ill. — Prosecutors say a 27-year-old man threatened residents of a Rogers Park apartment building, returned hours later and set a basement mattress on fire, sparking a blaze that killed Chicago Fire Department firefighter Michael Altman and led to murder and arson charges.

The case matters now because it has moved from a deadly fire investigation into a criminal prosecution with a defendant ordered held pending trial. Authorities say the fire on March 16 at 1757 W. North Shore Ave. was intentionally set after a dispute inside the building, and that Altman, 32, died the next day after suffering catastrophic burns while responding with other firefighters.

According to prosecutors, the chain of events began the day before the fire, when Sheaves Slate returned to the three-story building where he had once lived. Court records say tenants and the property manager had dealt with him before after he was found trespassing in basement and laundry areas. On the night of March 15, prosecutors said, Slate went to his former third-floor apartment carrying bags and demanded to speak with a tenant he knew. When another resident refused, a confrontation followed. A neighbor later told investigators Slate warned that the people inside “are going to pay,” prosecutors said. One tenant briefly called 911 during the disturbance, then canceled the call after believing he had gone.

Investigators say he did not leave for good. Video cited in court showed him back in the building near 11 p.m., staying into the early hours of March 16. Tenants reported seeing him in a hallway, and around 4 a.m. one of them told him to leave, prosecutors said. He was then seen exiting, only to return through a broken basement window. Prosecutors say he went into the maintenance and boiler room and remained there for hours. At some point, they allege, he used a handheld lighter to ignite a mattress. When the flames grew beyond his control, prosecutors said, he placed a door in front of the room, concealing the fire rather than warning residents or calling 911.

The fire emerged late the next morning. Residents noticed smoke shortly before 11:30 a.m. on March 16 and called 911. About 100 firefighters responded to what officials described as a 2-11 alarm at the apartment building. Altman, assigned to Truck 47, was among them. Prosecutors say firefighters operating in the basement moved the door that had been set in place. When they did, the structure above gave way. Altman, who was on the first floor, fell into the basement and into the fire. Officials said he was rescued within about a minute, but he had burns over 90% of his body. He was taken to Stroger Hospital and pronounced dead on March 17.

The prosecution’s account extends beyond the fire scene. After leaving the building, prosecutors say, Slate was captured on video walking through an alley around 11:20 a.m. and heading toward a bus stop. They say he later traveled to the Harold Washington Library, changed clothes and dyed his hair from orange to brown. The next day, according to prosecutors, he checked himself into a hospital because he was feeling suicidal. Police took him into custody there on March 18. Public records reviewed by local media show he also had an unrelated warrant issued in January after failing to appear in court in a separate case involving retail theft and methamphetamine-related charges.

At his detention hearing on March 23, a Cook County judge ordered Slate held pending trial. He faces charges that include first-degree murder, felony murder, aggravated arson and residential arson. In court, prosecutors said he later admitted setting the fire and linked it to suicidal feelings and conflict with people in the building. The defense stage remains early, and many issues have not yet been tested in a trial setting, including how surveillance footage, witness statements and any confession will be challenged. The official cause of Altman’s death had not yet been finalized in some early reports even as the criminal case moved forward.

Altman’s death turned the courtroom case into a citywide loss story. He was a fourth-generation Chicago firefighter whose grandfather, Edward Altman Jr., served as fire commissioner in the late 1990s. Colleagues and elected officials packed hearings and lined streets during a procession honoring him. He had been on the job for nearly two years and left behind his wife, Nora, a young son and another child on the way. Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt said the department would stand by the family, calling him a hero both in uniform and at home. The public mourning, from street-side tributes to fundraiser efforts, ran alongside the criminal allegations in a way that kept the focus on both accountability and loss.

Currently, the defendant remains jailed pending trial, and the case is moving through Cook County court while Chicago prepares to remember Altman at services set for March 26 and March 27. The next milestone is the criminal case’s return to court as prosecutors begin turning allegations into evidence.

Author note: Last updated April 15, 2026.