A man has been sentenced to nearly three decades in prison for luring two Chicago firefighters into a South Side home and attacking them with a knife three years ago.
Melvin Jordan, 47 at the time of the crime, was convicted in May 2026 of two charges of aggravated kidnapping and two counts of aggravated restraint.
Jordan appeared in court on Wednesday for sentencing, when he was sentenced to 28 years in prison for the 2023 attack.
According to Chicago police, Jordan, who lives on the block where the incident occurred, was arrested around 1:15 p.m. on August 29, 2023, after being accused of brandishing a weapon and unlawfully holding two victims inside a home in the 7700-block of South Marshfield Avenue in Auburn Gresham an hour earlier.
The Chicago Fire Department said that firemen were dispatched to a garage fire. After the fire was out, a resident approached a battalion chief and requested that the department investigate a smell of gas inside his home.
According to CFD authorities, the chief asked a lieutenant to join him and the resident. The resident begged the chief to go first, but the chief declined, urging the resident to go first and saying the firefighters would follow.
According to officials, the occupant used a power screwdriver to dismantle a barricade, allowing the chief and lieutenant access the basement. They didn’t detect any gas smell inside.
According to CFD, the chief and lieutenant knew the homeowner had returned upstairs, and when they went up, they found him in the kitchen, armed with a knife with the rear door blocked.
Officials reported that the resident ordered them back into the basement. Instead, the chief and lieutenant ran to the front of the house, which was also blocked.
The resident with the knife then chased them, and the chief and lieutenant began using furniture to keep him away while radioing for help.
According to officials, police officers and firefighters were able to force their way in and rescue the firefighters while also arresting the resident.
The Office of Fire Investigations determined that the garage fire was intentionally ignited.
Police said they discovered at least one handgun and many knives in the building, and the resident is a convicted felon.
Neither of the firefighters trapped inside was hurt.
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