An argument over a few dollars ended with neighbors leaning from upper-floor windows, coughing in smoke, as firefighters rushed to an aging Milwaukee apartment building with no sprinklers.
A family dispute that turned into a felony case
Prosecutors in Milwaukee County have charged 48-year-old Laquita Spears after a fire in her father’s apartment spread through a building described in court records as housing mostly elderly and disabled residents. The allegations are detailed in a criminal complaint summarized by Law&Crime, which obtained the document.
The complaint states that Spears had been staying at her father’s Milwaukee apartment for several weeks after she was removed from a local shelter. In mid-January, her father told police he tried to evict her from his unit. That decision, he said, followed days in which she had been “constantly been talking to herself” and, on the day of the fire, “screaming at him and not making any sense about $5” that she believed a family member owed her.
According to the complaint, when he told her she could no longer stay, the argument escalated. What happened next is now at the center of an arson case that could carry decades in prison if she is convicted.
What investigators say happened inside the apartment
Spears’ father told investigators that during the dispute, he saw his daughter walk toward the front door as if she were leaving. He noticed she was holding a red Bic lighter. As she moved toward the exit, the complaint says, she turned to him and said, “Burn motherf-er, burn!”
Moments later, according to his statement, he saw that a coat lying on top of his couch was on fire. He told police he tried and failed to put out the flames. In a later interview, he said Spears used a cigarette lighter to ignite a coat on a chair near the entrance and then the couch along the southwest wall of the living room.
The complaint alleges that Spears did more than flick a lighter. In her own interview with investigators, she allegedly admitted that she “squirted ‘the charcoal'” fluid on a jacket that was on top of the couch. She also said she retrieved a laundry basket of clothes, placed it on a table in the living room, and sprayed charcoal lighter fluid over the clothing.
Spears then used the Bic lighter to “ignite the fluid at both locations” before leaving the apartment, according to the complaint described by Law&Crime. She allegedly told investigators she did not intend to hurt anyone and did not think the fire would spread as it did.
A building of elderly residents, no sprinklers
Fire did spread, however, from the father’s unit into the larger complex. According to the complaint, the building “houses elderly people with a large majority of those being disabled” and was not equipped with sprinklers.
By the time first responders arrived, police say, “Occupants of the apartment complex were self-evacuating, and some people were hanging out of windows.” Many residents were older adults, and several suffered smoke inhalation and other injuries as they tried to escape.
One person was reportedly found unresponsive and “not breathing” and was hospitalized with chest pain, according to the complaint. Authorities have not publicly identified that resident or released long-term medical outcomes in the filings summarized so far.
The fire damaged multiple units. Public reporting to date has not detailed the full extent of structural damage or whether any residents have been permanently displaced, beyond the emergency evacuation described by police.
⚠️ WARNING: This post contains descriptions of arson and elder endangerment.
Laquita Spears, 48, has been arrested in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, after allegedly setting fire to her father’s apartment while he was still inside.
The incident occurred on January 13, 2026, during a… pic.twitter.com/siPLvWxb7k
— True Crime Updates (@TrueCrimeUpdat) January 26, 2026
Prior arson convictions and new charges
The complaint notes that Spears has two prior arson convictions. Details of those cases are not outlined in the Law&Crime report, and the new filings do not indicate whether any mental health evaluations were conducted in connection with the earlier convictions.
In the current case, Spears was arrested on January 16 after the blaze and taken into custody. She now faces arson and reckless endangerment charges under Wisconsin law. Arson of a building is charged under Wis. Stat. 943.02, which classifies the offense as a Class C felony. That statute allows for up to 40 years of imprisonment and a fine of up to $100,000 if a defendant is convicted.
Recklessly endangering safety is addressed in Wis. Stat. 941.30. First-degree recklessly endangering safety, which applies when conduct creates a risk of death or great bodily harm, is a Class F felony. Second degree is Class G. Court records in this case have not yet been fully reported in open sources, so the exact subsections charged are not confirmed here.
Spears is being held on a $50,000 bond. A judge has ordered that, if she is released, she must stay away from her father. According to Law&Crime’s summary of the complaint, she is scheduled to appear in court in late February.
Motive, mental state, and unanswered questions
The available records focus heavily on what Spears allegedly did with lighter fluid and a Bic lighter. They describe the argument as beginning over housing and a dispute about five dollars. They also quote her father describing several weeks of behavior that concerned him, including her talking to herself and making statements he considered nonsensical.
Those references raise questions about Spears’ mental state at the time of the fire, but the complaint excerpted by Law&Crime does not mention any formal diagnosis, competency evaluation, or prior treatment. It also does not indicate whether defense attorneys plan to raise mental health in court or challenge the statements attributed to her.
Spears reportedly told investigators she did not mean to harm anyone. Under Wisconsin law, however, prosecutors do not need to prove an intent to kill or injure to secure a conviction for arson of a building. They must show that a defendant intentionally damaged a building by fire or explosives, without the owner’s consent, and under circumstances that place another’s property or safety at risk.
On the other side of the case are elderly and disabled residents whose homes filled with smoke. The complaint describes people evacuating on their own, sometimes hanging out of windows. It notes one resident who was not breathing when found. Public filings so far do not state whether building owners or regulators had previously flagged the lack of sprinklers or whether any upgrades were ever proposed.
What comes next
Spears has not yet entered a final plea in a publicly reported hearing in this case. The charges are allegations, and she is presumed innocent unless and until prosecutors prove those charges beyond a reasonable doubt in court or she enters a guilty plea.
For now, the record shows a father who says he tried to remove his daughter from his home, residents of an older building who escaped a sudden fire without the protection of sprinklers, and a defendant with two prior arson convictions who told investigators she did not think the flames would spread so far.
Upcoming court hearings may reveal more about Spears’ mental health history, the building’s fire protections, and the full extent of injuries. Until those details are aired in open court or filed in public documents, much of what happened after the first coat caught fire remains confined to the words preserved in a single criminal complaint.
