Excerpts from nbcchicago.com:

A teenager is in critical condition and three police officers were hospitalized Tuesday morning following a fire in  Grayslake, but an investigation into the fire has led to questions on its cause. 

The fire broke out just after midnight in the 300 block of Normandy Lane. The flames sparked at the rear of the home with heavy smoke filling the inside as a young boy became trapped.

Others inside the home made it out safely, but told officers at the scene a third person was still inside. A neighbor and three police officers rushed into the burning building to rescue the 17-year-old.

“The cops showed up and we tried getting in there with them and one of them finally just took a deep breath and went in,” said neighbor Brad Mohlman. “I kind of went in with them and stayed at the bottom of the stairs, he pulled [the boy] down from the top of the stairs. [The boy] was in rough shape, he wasn’t breathing right, he was gasping – it wasn’t good.”

Police said the boy was taken in critical condition to Advocate Condell Medical Center and was being transported to Loyola University Medical Center.

The officers who went inside the home were hospitalized for smoke inhalation but two were released Tuesday morning. The third officer was being held for observation but is expected to be OK. 

The fire had not been ruled a crime scene as of Tuesday morning, but some circumstances inside were not ordinary.

Excerpts from theChicagoTribune.com:

Authorities investigating a Grayslake house fire this week announced two stunning developments Friday: that the teenage boy who was rescued from the blaze had been shot in the head, and that his grandmother took her life after police questioned her.

Police also said that the grandmother, who was the guardian of the boy, had directed another minor in her care to consume a bottle of prescription medication before the woman committed suicide.

Just hours after speaking with investigators Thursday afternoon, the teen’s grandmother, Deborah St. Antoine-Browne, jumped to her death from a parking garage outside Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where her grandson was being treated.

Before her death, St. Antoine-Browne gave the boy’s relative a bottle of prescription medication with instructions to take it all, Grayslake Police Chief Philip Perlini said, adding that police learned of the allegation from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. The relative had ingested some of the medication, but sought emergency medical help at the hospital.

After the fire, an investigation immediately ensued, and a .38-caliber pistol was recovered from the home. Perlini did not identify the shooter, but said there were no suspects from outside the home.

At the time of her death, St. Antoine-Browne also was being investigated in connection to an unrelated forgery case, though she had not been arrested in that case, and the prosecutor didn’t know if she had been aware of the investigation. 

St. Antoine-Browne was guardian to two minors in the home at the time of the fire, and they are now under DCFS care.

A combination of information led investigators to further interview the victim’s grandmother. Grayslake investigators spoke to her at about 2:15 p.m. Thursday at the hospital, took her statements, gathered her fingerprints, and DNA samples.

At 4:50 p.m., the Grayslake Police Department was notified by the Cook County Sheriff’s Department that St. Antoine-Browne had committed suicide at the Loyola Hospital parking garage.

thanks Scott

Tags: Deborah St. Antoine-Browne, Grayslake Fire Department, Grayslake Fire Protection District, police officers injured at fire scene, teenager injured at fire scene, woman commits suicide after police investigation of house fire