Police responded to the home after a man fired a flare gun more than 30 times into his surrounding neighborhood. As they tried to investigate, the home went up in flames, rattling windows for miles.
A massive explosion leveled a home and rocked a neighborhood in Arlington, Va., on Monday night as police tried to investigate a man who shot a flare gun from his residence, officials said.
No serious injuries were reported, but the fate of the suspect, who was believed to be inside the house at the time of the explosion, is still unclear.
Video posted to social media showed the house disappearing under a ball of fire, lobbing debris into the night air and sending wreckage raining down onto the suburb of Washington, D.C. Neighbors said the blast could be heard and felt for miles.
Here’s an overview of what we know. What happened in the moments leading up to the explosion?
Arlington County police said in a statement that they were first called to the 800 block of N. Burlington Street around 4:45 p.m. ET after receiving a report of possible gunshots.
The neighborhood, known as Bluemont, is in a leafy suburb of Washington D.C., filled with brick duplexes, condos and single-family residences.
During a preliminary investigation, police found that the suspect had fired a flare gun 30 to 40 times from inside his residence, a duplex, into the surrounding neighborhood.
