A man has been charged with arson and murder in connection with a fire that killed four people – including a pregnant woman, her sister, and her son – last month in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago.

Cook County prosecutors said 23-year-old Lontray Clark set the fire after learning his ex-girlfriend was possibly dating his friend.

Clark was arrested Wednesday in Springfield, after he was identified as the man who intentionally set fire to a three-story apartment building in the 5200 block of West North Avenue on June 26, according to Chicago police. He has been charged with eight counts of murder, four counts of aggravated arson, two counts of attempted murder, and one count of residential arson.

A total of four people died — including Brad Cummings, 76, the editor of the Austin neighborhood-based The Voice newspaper. Also killed were Destiny, Regina, and Jayceon Henry — ages 28, 32, and 5, respectively. Jayceon was Regina Henry’s son, while Destiny was Regina’s sister.

A family member said Regina Henry was three months pregnant at the time of her death. 

At Clark’s first court appearance on Saturday, Cook County prosecutors said that Clark texted his ex-girlfriend after seeing she had posted a selfie on Snaptchat from inside his friend’s apartment. Clark implied he knew the two had started dating.

Clark’s ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend later went to sleep in the boyfriend’s apartment in the 5200 block of West North Avenue around midnight, according to prosecutors.

Meantime, around 12:20 a.m. the next day, Clark drove to pick up his cousin a few blocks away, and the two drove to a nearby BP gas station, where Clark filled up a yellow antifreeze container with gasoline, prosecutors said. The two then drove to a nearby convenience store, where Clark bought a black shirt, a mask, and a lighter.

Around 1:10 a.m., Clark and his cousin drove to an alley behind the apartment building on the 5200 block of West North Avenue, prosecutors said.

Wearing the black shirt he had just bought, Clark walked toward the apartment building carrying the container of gasoline and came back a few minutes later wearing a mask, but no longer carrying the container of gasoline, according to prosecutors.

After walking back to the apartment a second time, Clark got back in the car, and moved it to another alley a block away before going back to the apartment building, prosecutors said. A short time later, he came running back to the car, got in the driver’s seat, and told his cousin he had just “lit they house on fire.”

Clark then drove his cousin to their grandfather’s house, where Clark stripped out of his clothes, placed them in a bag, and threw them in a dumpster, before taking a shower, getting dressed, and taking his cousin home, prosecutors said.

Around 1:50 a.m., Clark’s ex-girlfriend and her current boyfriend awoke to flames and smoke in the apartment building, according to prosecutors. They woke up the boyfriend’s grandparents and younger sister, and tried to get out of the apartment, but both exits were engulfed in flames.

Instead, they managed to climb out of a window to escape the flames, according to prosecutors.

Responding firefighters found Brad Cummings, Regina Henry, and Jayceon Henry while battling the flames, and all three were taken to hospitals where they were pronounced dead. Destiny Henry originally was listed as missing, but was found dead inside the building the next day, prosecutors said.

At least four other people were taken to hospitals after the fire, including Destiny Henry’s 4-year-old son, Kyle, who remained in critical condition as of Saturday, sedated and intubated with head trauma and burns to the face and body.

Destiny’s cousin, Latyra Goodman, said Destiny went back into the burning apartment building to get Kyle, not knowing someone else had already dropped him out of a window to save him from the fire.

“If my cousin knew her son was already out of the window, she would have been here right now,” Goodman said.    

Prosecutors said fire investigators later determined the blaze started in multiple locations in the building, including the exterior courtyard and the 2nd and 3rd floor stairwells.

Approximately 140 firefighters responded to the blaze, using at least eight ladders to bring residents to safety from the flames. At least five people were pulled from the burning building’s windows, and others escaped by the stairs or jumped from the building. 

Relatives of the Henry family members who died have said someone threw Molotov cocktails through the windows before the fire started. Some residents said they heard gunshots before the fire started, but police and prosecutors have not confirmed those details.

The Henry family and a group of community and faith leaders had been offering a $7,0 reward for any information that leads to an arrest in the suspected arson.

A judge has ordered Clark held in Cook County Jail while he awaits trial.

Rev. George Smith, who is the cousin of the women who died in the fire, responded to Clark’s arrest in a statement, saying:

“I’m grateful to know, they have Apprehended  someone in the fatal fire that claimed the lives of 4 , including my 3 cousins. We are praying and trusting God in all of this. He took precious lives from us and justice will be served. We would like to thank the Chicago police department for their service in finding this monster. Again we are grateful but it couldn’t never replace what he took from my aunt, her children and grandchildren are her everything. Now this is her new norm, life without her complete family. We ask for your prayers in this day-by-day process.”

Clark is due back in court on Monday.