UPDATE: The homeowner, Jason Yoo, was confirmed as deceased by police on Wednesday afternoon. See our updates below for more details!
Ladies and gents, if you missed it, here's the house that blew up in Arlington last night while police were executing a search warrant on someone firing a flare gun from the home.
[Warning: BOOM]
Here's a photo from Arlington County PD showing the aftermath:
Thank the Lord no one was seriously hurt. Three officers were taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
But the explosion is just the beginning of the craziness, my friends. Please put your seatbelt on for this next part.
NBC 4 has some new deets on what led up to the explosion:
Police received reports of a man firing a flare gun from a home in the 800 block of N. Burlington Street at about 4:45 p.m. The suspect fired the flare gun 30 to 40 times, Arlington police said.
At least one concerned neighbor called the police.
Quinn said she could see the flares coming from the house in the afternoon, and initially assumed someone may have been "goofing off on an afternoon."
"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."
Okay, so the police talked to him and told him to knock it off. Seems like they probably should have cited him for something, cuz apparently he decided to ramp it up to DEFCON 1.
The police had to return, this time with at least a few cruisers, and then this happened:
Officers tried to execute a search warrant shortly before 8:30 p.m. The suspect allegedly fired multiple rounds, "from what is believed to be a firearm," according to authorities.
That's right. The guy responded by firing a gun at officers. Then the house exploded.
Was he baiting them?
Hope you've got that seatbelt on, cuz now we get to the man who recorded that video above:
Bro just had the most exciting night of his life!
These officers used an armored SWAT truck to hit the front of the house while trying to talk this man down. He fired back at them with a "high-caliber" weapon (no way to know that although a rifle round like 5.56 is far louder than a pistol round like 9mm). Police reportedly kept shouting "non-lethal!" as they fired their munitions, apparently to take the guy alive.
Then the house went boom.
SO WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GUY INSIDE?
I'm glad you asked, but you might need a crash helmet on for this twist.
Meet James Yoo, the man listed as the owner of the home:
- "F*** the police"
- "U.S, is the world's biggest TERRORIST"
- "#PURGE THEM"
This man is nutso:
He spied on his neighbors and thought they were federal agents that had been keeping tabs on him for years:
DUDE IS OFF HIS ROCKER!
"Okay, okay," you ask, "But WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM?
UPDATE 1: Police say they BELIEVE James Yoo was killed in the blast. The person who created the following video was an imposter (a very quick-thinking troll).
Here's what we originally covered that the troll account had posted. It spookily copies the voice of the real James Yoo (guess it's not that hard to pretend to be a paranoid person?):
Apparently he survived, or the person in the house wasn't him, BECAUSE HE WAS SPOUTING OFF ON YOUTUBE FOOTAGE OF HIS HOUSE EXPLODING:
Here's a good post with more info if you want it (including an unhinged email to Acting US Attorney JP Kennedy of the Western District of New York regarding FBI agents being sent to spy on him):
UPDATE 2: Here is the police briefing from Tuesday with more details:
P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇
