New footage shows flares being shot from a house in Arlington that later exploded after a SWAT team arrived – with a man believed to have been inside now unaccounted for.
Monday’s footage from the Virginia city shows a flare light up the darkening sky above a duplex property at around 4:45pm ET.
Neighbors said a man inside the home was firing the pyrotechnic from a flare gun – although it’s unclear why. Multiple rounds are said to have been blasted out of the weapon, prompting a call to police, who quickly arrived at the scene.
After SWAT teams arrived, the unidentified person inside the duplex began firing at officers, it’s claimed. They prepared to enter the property – only for it to explode in a gigantic blast that sent debris and a huge fireball roaring into the sky.
A flare lights up the darkening sky above Arlington, Virginia, on Monday evening. The pyrotechnic was shot out of a gun by a man whose house exploded in a huge fireball as a SWAT team prepared to go in. The shooter remains unaccounted for
No police officers were injured – although the man who was inside the property when it exploded remains missing.
Police have said they’ve been unable to access the apartment, meaning they haven’t yet recovered or apprehended the suspect.
The blast left the house in the city’s Bluemont neighborhood in flames.
Emergency crews trying to put out the fire while area residents have either been evacuated or told to shelter-in-place.
It looked like a scene out of an action movie when a house in the Washington DC suburb of Arlington, Virginia exploded into flames Monday night during a standoff.
Police tweeted out just after 8 p.m. that they were headed to North Burlington Street attempting to execute a search warrant.
They said a suspect had been discharging a flare gun from his residence and the request for shelter-in-place began.
By around 8:30 p.m., people began reporting having heard a loud explosion in the area.
Authorities said the suspect discharged several rounds inside his home before the blast.
Local fire and emergency services posted on X that they had dispatched to the scene to try and put out what they were describing as a ‘structure fire.’
Police said a person inside the house was firing gunshots at officers as they tried to get into the home at about 4:45 pm
The blast left the house in the city’s Bluemont neighborhood in flames
Emergency crews trying to put out the fire while area residents have either been evacuated or told to shelter-in-place
Local fire and emergency services posted on X that they had dispatched to the scene to try and put out what they were describing as a ‘structure fire’
WTOP, a local radio station, got a call from a listener who claimed to live in the area, saying police were trying to coax the suspect out of his house.
A neighbor who spoke to ARLnow said they believe ‘it blew up the entire duplex’ but is hopeful the family next door ‘was evacuated before it blew up.’
Other neighbors reported the blast having shook their beds and left behind an ‘acrid stench.’
So far, police have only reported ‘minor injuries’ and no one has been taken to the hospital yet, though paramedics were told to expect ‘multiple burn patients.’
This is a developing story.