A Skokie woman charged with attempted murder after she allegedly sprayed her children and herself with lighter fluid committed the crime because she thought her husband was having an affair, according to information from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office.
Iqra Mehreen, 33, of the of the 8300 block of Kedvale Avenue in Skokie, was charged with three counts of attempted first degree murder following the Feb. 21 incident in her home, police said.
Mehreen, who is being held on $500,000 bond, was in the Skokie courthouse on March 2 for a brief hearing and is scheduled for another hearing on March 8.
On Feb. 21 at around 9 a.m., Mehreen and her husband were arguing in their home when Mehreen accused her husband of having an affair while he was out of the country with their children’s “religion teacher,” according to the state’s attorneys office.
Prosecutors said Mehreen’s sisters-in-laws and father-in-law were present during the argument, because she had asked them to intervene due to what she said was her husband’s infidelity.
“While the defendant was hurling these accusations at her husband, all of the adults present were speaking in raised voices, the defendant abruptly left the living room and went outside,” according to prosecutors. “When the defendant returned to the living room she was holding a grill lighter in one hand and a container of lighter fluid in the other hand.”
“The defendant sprayed the children with the lighter fluid (gasoline) on their heads and bodies, and also doused herself with the lighter fluid,” said prosecutors. “As the defendant was spraying the lighter fluid, she was yelling at her husband that ‘if he didn’t want to be with her anymore, she would have to end her life.’ In front of her husband’s family, Mehreen also allegedly stated that she didn’t want herself or her children to live any longer, said prosecutors.
They said Mehreen’s husband grabbed the grill lighter and the container of lighter fluid from his wife to prevent anything from igniting and placed the items outside.
One of the relatives present called 911 and police and ambulances arrived at the home, which “reeked of gasoline, as did the defendant,” said prosecutors.
They said the three children, ages 9, 7 and 2, were instructed to shower to get the lighter fluid off their hair and bodies and that while EMS was taking Mehreen out of the house she said she “wanted them all to die.”
The incident was captured on a surveillance camera located within the room of the argument, prosecutors said. They said the video was recovered along with the grill lighter, the lighter fluid container, and the clothing that the children and Mehreen were wearing at the time they were doused with the flammable liquid. The grill lighter was tested, and it was functional.
Mehreen was taken to the hospital by EMS, where it was determined she needed inpatient psychiatric treatment. DCFS was notified and established a safety plan for the family, including a court order that Mehreen have no contact with her children without family supervision, prosecutors said.