A house in Arlington, Virginia, exploded Monday night only minutes after police posted on social media about a suspect setting off a flare gun inside a home.
Around 4:45 p.m., Arlington County police responded to the 800 block of North Burlington Street for reports of shots heard. In their initial investigation, officers determined from nearby residents that a suspect discharged a flare gun 30 to 40 times from inside his home into the neighborhood, according to police in [a statement released early Tuesday.]
My daughter and her husband moved to Arlington in July for Grad School. They live about a mile and a half from there and felt their windows and walls shake. Small world.
During an armed standoff in a house, the cops had the front street closed at each end of the block, I couldn’t get any good footage. So I wandered a bit along the back lane across the street, maybe get something from between houses.
Some folks invited me into their house for a better view. As luck would have it they were right across the street from the incident.
For a good 20 mins I rolled tape as suspects were pulled out of the house. the cops didn’t beat anyone, it was tense but their actions weren’t out of line. The story ran with all faces blurred…
Cops came down hard on me for crossing a police line & trespassing, tried to make a big deal about it. Talk of charges and seizing my gear.
Fortunately I was rolling the whole time, footage showed zero evidence of police controlling access to lane… no tape, no barricades… I was invited on to private land by the owners. We rebutted each accusation with proof, police didn’t come off looking to good after that.
I say record, record record. Never stop recording. But DON’T be a dick about it. Don’t sass the cops, don’t strut like you’ve got an absolute right to be there. You might be asked to move further away… sometimes it IS for your safety… other times ACAB wanna ACAB and not get seen doing their ACAB things.
As well, with your iPhone in portrait mode held over the police tape and you yelling “World Star Yo !! got your asses on Facebook” you might bring unwanted attention to yourself.
And here’s the biggest thing to remember - a cop can still detain you, can still accidently smash your phone or face in the heat of the moment and then release you 30 minutes later. They didn’t put you into custody with the idea of you facing a lengthy trial and a proper flow of justice. They wanna shut you down right there and then, deal with the slap on their wrist later.
Unless this guy was making illegal fireworks and had a bunch of gunpowder, my only other though on how that could happen is ripping open a gas line, let the house fill up for 20 min and then shoot off a flare. Crazy no matter how it happened.
But some stupid with a flare gun
Burned the place to the ground
The Papal States would like to have a word, sirrah. Sure, it wasn’t the entirety of what we today consider Italy, and gave such renowned political dynasties as the Borgias and Lombards, and of course the Papal States were under the direct sovereign rule of the Popes, even when the Pope was in France, giving us such illuminaries as Steven VI, who put his dead predecessor on trial; John XII, who is considered by many the most morally depraved Pope ever and who was actually deposed then managed to, through politics and military action, reclaim the title; and Urban IV, whose reign saw the split of the Church in two, the rise of the proverbial “Anti-Pope” in France, and then a third Pope come to power in Pisa. Good times.
… and watching it unfold from their one of their windows, which must have been blown in by the blast. Miraculously, the explosion left the next house still standing, apparently unscathed, though I would be surprised if the whole structure were declared sound after such a shockwave.
I was thinking a little closer to home. The house he lived in had two units - note the two front doors on the building. Anyone else living in that building, who was still there… would no longer be living. But yeah, anyone in nearby buildings would have been in trouble too.
Crazy no matter how it happened.
