Man linked to Arlington, Virginia, house explosion dead

Table Of Content

• Find out what’s happening in yourcommunity on the Patch app
• BREAKING: Large house explosion in Bluemont amid police incident
• Man who lived at Virginia home that exploded is presumed dead, police say
• House explodes in Arlington, Virginia, while police serving search warrant, officials say
• Arlington elementary schoolers cheer on the Washington Capitals during playoff pep rally
• ABC News
• Federal Investigators Pinpoint What Caused String Of Gas Explosions In Mass.

Two other nearby homes received moderate damage stemming from the fire, which was extinguished by Sunday morning and still under investigation, Allen said. Arlington County Police Chief Andy Penn said police went to the home after James Yoo, 56, fired a “flare-type gun” into the neighborhood more than 30 times from within the house. Stunning video shows a home exploding into flames and collapsing as debris flies more than two stories into the air. The blast occurred as police investigated someone shooting flares into a residential area near Ballston. The explosion occurred in Bluemont, a neighborhood in north Arlington where many of the homes are duplexes.

Find out what’s happening in yourcommunity on the Patch app

The cause of the explosion is under investigation and authorities are working to collect evidence from the scene. Initial reports suggested a man was holed up in his house, shooting a flare gun out of a window. When they arrived, crews found fire coming from the townhouse, the fire department said. During their search of the house in the Sycamore Heights townhome community, firefighters rescued four pets, including cats.

BREAKING: Large house explosion in Bluemont amid police incident

At the scene, crews discovered a small fire, as well as a destroyed privately owned outdoor book collection box – a Little Free Library. On Wednesday, the fire department responded to the 100 block of North Columbus Street for a reported fire outside. ARLINGTON, Va. — The Arlington Fire Department has opened an investigation into a series of small explosions that destroyed a privately owned outdoor library and damaged an amphitheater this week. All crimes are alleged and all suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. “Come to the front door with your hands up,” someone can be heard saying in the video. An hourslong standoff in a quiet neighborhood preceded the explosion.

Man who lived at Virginia home that exploded is presumed dead, police say

Police identify suspect in home that exploded near DC and are investigating ‘concerning social media posts’ he allegedly made - CNN

Police identify suspect in home that exploded near DC and are investigating ‘concerning social media posts’ he allegedly made.

Posted: Tue, 05 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

"We are aware of concerning social media posts allegedly made by the suspect, and these will be reviewed as part of the ongoing criminal investigation," Penn said. With his cellphone's camera, Wilson captured video of the inferno, which has been replayed countless times on local news stations. He said he heard police announce they were going to try to ram the front door, so he went on his roof to start recording.

One pet was found dead inside the house, the Arlington County Fire Department said Wednesday. ARLINGTON, VA — A townhouse in the East Falls Church neighborhood of Arlington was badly damaged by a fire that started late Tuesday night, according to fire officials. Arlington Fire and EMS said the house fire was quickly extinguished. One person was taken to the hospital in “stable condition,” Arlington Fire and EMS said. The Fire Prevention Office is asking anyone that lives in the immediate area with home surveillance equipment to please review their video for any information that could assist with the investigation. Jenkins also noted that authorities turned off gas service to the home about 90 minutes before the explosion.

Man linked to Arlington, Virginia, house explosion dead - The Associated Press

Man linked to Arlington, Virginia, house explosion dead.

Posted: Tue, 05 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Residents could hear and feel the explosion for miles around Arlington County, where the average population is over 9,000 people per square mile. Arlington County police have confirmed that James Yoo was the man at the center of the standoff at the Virginia home that exploded Monday night. Officials have not been able to go into the home and could not confirm whether there were any deaths. "Over the years he lived there, I might have seen him three or four times, and [he] always had a backpack," she said. He put foil over the windows, blocked everything and never came out of the house," she told NBC News, estimating the man had lived there for at least five years. "Because his house is usually very neat and clean, always perfectly mowed, and not even a leaf on the ground in fall, and suddenly there was trash everywhere, clothes, things on his roof," Johnston said.

Arlington elementary schoolers cheer on the Washington Capitals during playoff pep rally

At Tuesday’s briefing, Jenkins said investigators have not ruled out chemical munitions as a possible contributor to the explosion. David Sundberg, the No. 2 official in the FBI’s Washington Field Office, said Yoo had repeatedly contacted the bureau “via phone calls, online tips and letters over a number of years,” complaining of fraud. Sundberg declined to detail the complaints but said none of them prompted the FBI to open an investigation.

ABC News

In an effort to flush him out, “officers began to deploy nonflammable, less-lethal chemical munitions to multiple areas within the residence where the suspect was believed to be hiding,” Penn said. A house in Virginia exploded Monday night shortly after officers were executing a search warrant at the residence for reports of a person discharging several rounds with a flare gun, officials said. Three officers reported minor injuries and there were no transports to the hospital related to this incident. Three officers reported minor injuries, but none was transported to the hospital. The person had fired the flare gun around 30 to 40 times "from inside his residence into the surrounding neighborhood," police said in a statement early Tuesday.

District Court for the Western District of New York, Yoo filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against a hospital in 2018, claiming he was hospitalized against his will in 2015. In 2021, he sued his ex-wife’s divorce attorneys for $300 million, accusing them of fraud, intentional infliction of emotional distress and other offenses. The complaints did not lead to the FBI opening any investigations, according to Sundberg, who did not provide any further details on the alleged claims. "There is no ongoing threat to the community related to this incident and no outstanding suspects," Penn said during a press briefing on Tuesday. Arlington County Police Chief Andy Penn said human remains were recovered from the scene but have not yet been identified.

The authorities said that Mr. Yoo’s only previous encounters with the local police before Monday were related to a couple of noise complaints. But David Sundberg, assistant director in charge of the F.B.I.’s Washington field office, said that Mr. Yoo had submitted tips over the years about “alleged frauds” that he believed had been perpetrated against him. A man was presumed dead after his home in Arlington, Va., exploded into flames and burned for hours on Monday night as the police were preparing to search the house to investigate reports of possible gunfire, the authorities said. The person inside did not respond, and officers were trying to execute the search warrant when "the suspect discharged several rounds, from what is believed to be a firearm, inside the home," police added. Video posted to social media showed a huge fireball and what appeared to be the roof and other debris lofted into the air during the blast, which neighbors said could be heard and felt for miles around in the Washington, D.C., suburb.

Even on LinkedIn, he shared paranoid rants about a former co-worker and said his neighbour was a spy. Most homes in the north Arlington suburb – Bluemont, where the shooting occurred- are two attached units or “duplexes”. The house was in the 800 block of North Burlington Street in Arlington, Virginia, police said.

And Mrs. Smith” — after the film in which Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie played a spy couple — and claimed his neighbors were surveilling him. He denied having written such a note or having suicidal thoughts and accused the hospital, his wife and sister of holding him there against his will. A judge ordered Yoo to sell the Arlington property that exploded Monday by late October 2020 as part of the asset distribution in the divorce.