Neighbors given the OK to return home after Arlington home explosion evacuation
ARLINGTON, Va. (DC News Now) — Neighbors impacted by the home explosion in Arlington, Monday night were allowed to return home, county officials confirm.
The suspect, James Yoo, 56, is presumed to have died in the blast, according to the Arlington County Police Department.
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Officers say he had fired dozens of flares from his home Monday afternoon, and barricaded himself inside when officers tried to make contact with him.
The duplex he lived in exploded later that night as officers tried to find a way inside to execute a search warrant. The family living on the other side, along with their dog, had been evacuated before the blast.
Arlington Fire & EMS crews evacuated other neighbors before the blast, and those who stayed behind were rushed away immediately after.
Neighbors were officially given the OK to go back into their homes and the immediate area along N. Burlington St late Wednesday night.
“I was outside behind a tree when the blast happened,” said Davin Mitchell, who lives right across the street from the duplex that exploded. “It really knocked me back a few steps.”
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Mitchell waited until daybreak on Thursday to return home to see the damage for the first time. He said it looked like Hollywood.
“I think I’m in Hollywood like on a movie set somewhere. Nothing else to describe it,” Mitchell said. “I’ve never seen it before and never want to see it again. You don’t believe what you’re seeing.”
Mitchell and other neighbors are left to pick up the pieces. Glass and debris litter his yard and the walking trail that runs behind his home.
As the police perimeter around the blast site shrinks, some onlookers are going out of their way to stop by and see the rubble left behind.
Mitchell is concerned about the neighbors who lived next to Yoo who lost their home in the blast.
“The innocent people who lived next door, they’ve got nothing. They have to rebuild their entire life,” he said.
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The community is coming together for that family already, with more than $100,000 raised for them online.
As for the investigation into what happened, fire crews say it could take months before they may know what exactly caused the blast.
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