OAN’s Abril Elfi
11:14 AM – Tuesday, December 5, 2023
A house in Arlington, Virginia, exploded while police were attempting to execute a search warrant.
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According to officials during a press conference, the home exploded on Monday night, just after police were carrying out a search warrant there, due to reports of someone firing multiple flare gun rounds.
The Arlington County Police Department arrived to the home after receiving a report that someone had fired 30 to 40 flare gun shots into the neighborhood from inside the house. This prompted police to respond to the scene at 4:45 p.m.
The suspect remained locked inside the house despite attempts by police to reach him by phone and loudspeakers, they said.
“During the course of the investigation, officers obtained a search warrant for the suspect’s residence and attempted to make contact with the suspect over the telephone and through loudspeakers. The suspect did not respond and remained barricaded inside the residence,” the police statement said.
Just before 8:25 p.m., police arrived at the house with a search warrant. The explosion happened after the suspect “discharged several rounds” from inside the house, according to Arlington County police spokesperson Ashley Savage.
While it was initially unclear whether the rounds fired came from a flare gun or another type of weapon, police subsequently stated that the rounds were fired “from what is believed to be a firearm.”
According to Savage, the suspect, who was not named right away, was inside the home when the explosion occurred.
The duplex home was not known to have any additional occupants, but Savage stated that police could not completely rule out the possibility that others had been there.
Three officers who had responded to the scene suffered minor injuries but none required hospitalization.
Local police are receiving assistance from the FBI’s Washington, D.C., field office in responding to the explosion, the agency said.
The Pentagon and other famous sites in the nation’s capital are roughly 5 miles from the scene of the residential explosion.
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