A home in Arlington, Virginia has been completely obliterated by a massive explosion during a standoff with police.
A suspect reportedly launched a flare gun from his home at police, causing the huge explosion on Monday night.
“As officers were attempting to execute a search warrant at the residence, the suspect discharged several rounds inside the house,” Arlington Police said on Twitter.
“Subsequently, an explosion occurred at the residence.”
Police are still investigating the circumstances, however, a flare gun is suspected to have caused the massive explosion, according to Fox 5.
Cops in Arlington, Virginia revealed that a flare gun was fired at least 30 times from inside the home.
Officers at the scene reported that there were only minor injuries, and no one had been transported to the hospital.
Videos shared on Twitter show the home exploding, with fire, smoke, and debris filling the air as the house crumbled.
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The smoke and fire from the explosion can be seen from miles away, according to more videos posted on Twitter.
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🚨#BREAKING: Numerous Reports of People Hearing Large Explosions, Rattling Multiple Buildings and homes ⁰⁰📌#Arlington | #Virginia
Currently Numerous reports are emerging of people hearing and seeing a large explosion in Arlington, Virginia, extending across Washington, D.C.… pic.twitter.com/TypaK15lsQ
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) December 5, 2023
Cops were first called to the Bluemont neighborhood address on Monday after neighbors reported seeing a man firing a pyrotechnic from a flare gun.
After a SWAT team arrived to execute the search warrant the suspect reportedly fired several more rounds.
As officers prepared to enter the property, the duplex exploded just before 8:30 pm with a video showing a fireball erupting from the site.
A massive boom was heard miles away and the power was knocked out in the surrounding neighborhood as firefighters rushed to extinguish the fire.
Fire responders had control of the fire but were still battling the flames late into the night.
No police officers were injured and residents were asked to shelter in place.
The suspect, who was inside the property when it exploded, was not caught and remains unaccounted for.
“I actually thought a plane exploded,” said Carla Rodriguez, who lives two miles from the site of the explosion.
Another neighbor shared the fate of a nearby house after the fire.
“I think it blew up the entire duplex,” a neighbor told ARL Now.
“I’m sure the family next door was evacuated before it blew up but they lost their home.”
A witness described seeing a police Swat team try to talk the man out of the home before the explosion.
Cops said they tried to contact the suspect via a telephone and loudspeakers.
“[The suspect] shot flares at the beginning, he was not shooting flares near the end,” the witness told local Fox affiliate WTTG.
“[Cops] starting returning fire with a nonlethal weapon. .. blasting out the windows a little bit.
“They kept trying to yell to him. He sounded like he was trying to say something back but they were like, ‘Look we can’t hear you. Please come out. Please come out. You won’t get hurt.'”
“[Cops] were driving forward to the window and that’s when the whole place went up.”‘
Another local shared that she saw flames coming from the home but assumed they were “goofing off on an afternoon,” according to NBC affiliate WRC-TV.
“But then after about 20 of them, I start to think, ‘This is concerning. Maybe somebody should call the police,'” she said.
“There was a police unit that was going down the street and then took a turn around the corner down to the cul-de-sac where he was, and it looked like they gave him a talking to.”
The Arlington Fire Department advised residents to avoid the area if possible, per a Twitter post.
In September, a home exploded in New Jersey, causing five people to be hospitalized, per Pix 11 News.
“It was a vibration. It was a shock,” Keith Koster, a nearby neighbor, told the outlet.
“It felt like it was going to push my house over.
“I’m like three-fourths of a mile down I’m not even that close and it felt like my house was going to fall over.
“House just exploded in my neighborhood shook the f—k out of the whole neighborhood like an earthquake,” Anthony Green, a resident nearby, posted on Twitter.
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