No bail for man accused of holding firefighters at knifepoint: ‘You’re not going anywhere’
A Cook County judge on Friday denied bail to a South Side man who authorities said trapped two Chicago firefighters at knife point in a gasoline-drenched home.
Judge Maryam Ahmad ordered Melvin Jordan, 47, held during a hearing at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. Jordan faces several felonies, including attempted murder, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated unlawful restraint and unlawful use of a weapon.
Jordan’s attorneys told the court their client suffers from mental health issues. The judge ordered Jordan to be evaluated by health care personnel, court records show.
The incident unfolded as firefighters responded to Jordan’s home at the 7700 block of South Marshfield Avenue in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood, according to prosecutors.
When firefighters arrived, the home’s garage was engulfed in flames, prosecutors said.
Jordan asked to speak with a Chicago Fire Department battalion chief about a natural gas leak in the house. After the garage fire was extinguished, he led the chief and a lieutenant to his basement, prosecutors said.
The firefighters didn’t smell a gas leak in the basement, but they saw Jordan run back upstairs. When they walked up, they found Jordan holding a knife that was 8- to 10-inches long, jabbing it toward him.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Jordan said, according to prosecutors.
Jordan ordered the firefighters to sit down while directing them from the home’s kitchen to its living room at knife point, prosecutors said. The firefighters noticed that the home’s rear and front doors were barricaded with deadbolts and wooden planks.
They radioed for backup and fellow firefighters tried to break through the front and rear doors, but they couldn’t get in, prosecutors said.
Jordan told the firefighters stuck in the house he wanted to talk with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, prosecutors said.
Eventually, the trapped firefighters were able to escape through a front window when first responders broke the window and pulled them out, according to a police report.
Police and firefighters then got into the house and found Jordan hiding in a bathroom, prosecutors said. He threatened to harm himself if first responders entered, the report said. Officers got into the bathroom and placed him in custody. They found another knife and an empty gun holster on him, .
Police also found the knife used in the attack on the kitchen floor and a 9 mm handgun upstairs, prosecutors said.
“Officers also observed what they believed to be gasoline spread throughout the first floor of the residence,” prosecutors said.
Jordan was convicted of murder in 2006 and later sentenced to 35 years, but had been granted a new trial in 2019 and was released from custody after posting $45,000 bail.
He has previously been convicted of three separate armed robberies. He was sentenced to seven years in prison for each and served the sentences concurrently, court records show.
Prosecutors said Jordan’s past convictions for armed robbery included attacks on a Radio Shack employee, a hotel worker and another store’s employee. In each case, he or a fellow attacker handcuffed their victim.
He is scheduled to return to court Tuesday.
