Explosion in residential D.C. area

[lucusloc]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1731853442056929425

Guy shot off flair guns in his home as police attempted to serve a search warrant, then boombie. No law enforcement or bystanders killed, only a few with minor injuries. Reports that the aftermath had an "acrid" smell.

Speculation time while we wait for details;

Crazed prepper with mad stacks of black powder?
Mental basket case who left the gas on while trying to fend off the cops?
Terrorist who decided to blow all the evidence before they were caught?

What caliber for Crazy Harry with a flare gun?

The news cycle tomorrow should be interesting.

(had no idea where to post this, move as needed. Edit; put this in the wrong sub anyway, so the mods definitely need to sort this out)

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[po18guy]

There was a meth to his madness.

 

[Jay Walk]

Looks like a weather balloon.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Deplorable insurrector.

 

[P7M13]

Qanon Flambeau

 

[ilikegunspdx]

crazy! Guess he wanted to go out with a bang?

 

[Xaevian]

 

[lucusloc]

Preliminary reports indicate that the owner of the house was CocoaPuffs. His social media, court filings and other interactions show a paranoid mental basket case. He was also denied a firearms purchase in the recent past, which may explain the use of the flair gun.

Law enforcement has not confirmed if the owner was the target of the warrant, or if he was even present for the encounter, but given the initial reporting I am inclined to think he was.

 

[ilikegunspdx]

Preliminary reports indicate that the owner of the house was CocoaPuffs. His social media, court filings and other interactions show a paranoid mental basket case. He was also denied a firearms purchase in the recent past, which may explain the use of the flair gun.

Law enforcement has not confirmed if the owner was the target of the warrant, or if he was even present for the encounter, but given the initial reporting I am inclined to think he was.

Yep reported he was a conspiracy theorist paranoid type:

Arlington, VA house explosion: Police identify suspect in home that exploded and are investigating ‘concerning social media posts’ he allegedly made | CNN

Police identified the suspect inside an Arlington, Virginia, home that exploded Monday while police were executing a search warrant as resident James Yoo, 56, and said they are investigating “concerning” posts he allegedly made on social media.

amp.cnn.com

 

[CountryGent]

Tis the season.

 

[lucusloc]

Police have confirmed that the owner of the house was the target of the warrant and police action. The call apparently originated from complaints that he was firing off the flare gun from the house across the neighborhood. When the police arrived he barricaded himself inside the house. The warrant was to enter, search and confiscate any weapons he may have had.

A body was found in the debris which investigators strongly suspect is the owner, but they are waiting for DNA results before confirmation. No details on what caused the explosion yet, but the police did confirm they shut off gas to the house well before the explosion.

I think this will be a good example for us to use. Yes, this guy was denied purchase of a firearm due to crazy, but that did not prevent him from blowing up a good chunk of a residential block in the middle of a city. The only reason there were not mass casualties here is from a mix of good planning and luck (good planning in evacuating all uninvolved people from the surrounding area, and luck that the police were not in the blast radius when the house went off). People who are too crazy to own guns are probably too crazy to be out in society unsupervised.

 

[jayR]

 

[Xaevian]

People who are too crazy to own guns are probably too crazy to be out in society unsupervised.

Yes

 

[po18guy]

There was a meth to his madness.

As it turns out, the only thing he was cooking was his brain.

 

[lucusloc]

Soooooo, from reports there is at least some possibility that the police were the cause of the explosion. There are reports that they sprayed the house with a "nonflammable" chemical irritant right before the explosion. I think they think that the "nonflammable" nature of their spray absolves them of suspicion, but I would point out that lots of typically nonflammable things suddenly become quite explosive when they are aerosolized.

Is this the part where I observe that the crazy guy in the house was repeatedly firing off a flare gun. You know, a device that is basically perfect for igniting highly aerosolized substances, even ones that might be otherwise difficult to ignite?

Color me suspicious.

 

[ilikegunspdx]

Soooooo, from reports there is at least some possibility that the police were the cause of the explosion. There are reports that they sprayed the house with a "nonflammable" chemical irritant right before the explosion. I think they think that the "nonflammable" nature of their spray absolves them of suspicion, but I would point out that lots of typically nonflammable things suddenly become quite explosive when they are aerosolized.

Is this the part where I observe that the crazy guy in the house was repeatedly firing off a flare gun. You know, a device that is basically perfect for igniting highly aerosolized substances, even ones that might be otherwise difficult to ignite?

Color me suspicious.

Flare guns likely also work to set off a house he rigged to explode. CS gas and flash bangs are used together all the time and doesn't explode. Sounds like a stretch to my way of thinking.

Until we get evidence to the contrary sounds like a paranoid psycho pyro to me.

 

[lucusloc]

Flare guns likely also work to set off a house he rigged to explode. CS gas and flash bangs are used together all the time and doesn't explode. Sounds like a stretch to my way of thinking.

Until we get evidence to the contrary sounds like a paranoid psycho pyro to me.

I mean that is a fair take too, but there have been instances of CS gas igniting. Waco is one instance where it seems that tear gas "flashed over" and lead to or assisted in the massive fire that consumed the building. I am sure it depends on the exact chemical makeup of the devices used. It can also depend on the ignitions source, with a shot hot blast being less of an issue than a long less hot ignition source (that is just chemistry, and I watch a ton of that on YT ;-). I definitely think the jury is still out on the cause of the explosion, but I do think we cannot discount the "LEO caused" hypothetical.