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Mother Killed, 8-Year-Old Boy Hurt In 'Suspicious' Roseland fire

(STMW) -- A mother was killed and her 8-year-old son was hurt during a "suspicious" extra-alarm blaze early Saturday in the Far South Side Roseland neighborhood, officials said.

The fire started about 1:45 a.m. in a three-story residential building in the 11200 block of South King Drive, authorities said.

Firefighters found flames burning on the top two floors of the building, and heavy fire in a stairwell, Fire Media Affairs said.

A woman hurt in the fire was in cardiac arrest when paramedics took her to Roseland Community Hospital, fire officials said.

Millicent Brown-Johnson, 28, was later pronounced dead, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.

Her child was also hurt in the fire, Calumet District police said.

The 8-year-old boy was in cardiac arrest when paramedics took him to Comer Children's Hospital with second- and third-degree burns and smoke inhalation, Fire Media Affairs Director Larry Langford said. He was then transferred to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood.

A firefighter was also taken to Roseland Community Hospital for a minor laceration to the face, police said.

The fire is considered "suspicious," Langford said.

The cause of the fire was not yet known Saturday and the Chicago Police Bomb and Arson Unit are investigating, officials said.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2013. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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