House Explosion in North Arlington

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So incredibly sad that this man didn’t get mental health treatment he so obviously needs . How did he get so many guns?

To clear the air:

This is a regular SFH/brick duplex neighborhood in Arlington a couple of blocks from the Ballston metro, near a popular trail, a big elementary school, a large community center, etc. About as low-crime, suburban kind of neighborhood as it gets, with those small, close-in lots.

There's no such thing as a "meth lab" in Arlington, lots are too small and rents are too high for there to be vacant properties like that. Small older houses sell for $850K in one week and are torn down to build $1.5M McMansions.

There is no evidence of any guns except the flare gun, so laws may have actually worked in this case. Signs point to natural gas as the source of the explosion.

Records show family (sister and ex-wife) had tried to get him mental health treatment, which is hard to do with an adult.

Calling him "racist against white people" is ridiculous. He was an untreated paranoid schizophrenic, he didn't have coherent thoughts, he thought anyone and everyone was out to get him.

Neighbors say they heard gunfire, not a flare gun, right before the explosion. Additionally, this is directly from police:
“As officers were attempting to execute the search warrant, the suspect discharged several rounds, from what is believed to be a firearm, inside the home. “

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So incredibly sad that this man didn’t get mental health treatment he so obviously needs . How did he get so many guns?

To clear the air:

This is a regular SFH/brick duplex neighborhood in Arlington a couple of blocks from the Ballston metro, near a popular trail, a big elementary school, a large community center, etc. About as low-crime, suburban kind of neighborhood as it gets, with those small, close-in lots.

There's no such thing as a "meth lab" in Arlington, lots are too small and rents are too high for there to be vacant properties like that. Small older houses sell for $850K in one week and are torn down to build $1.5M McMansions.

There is no evidence of any guns except the flare gun, so laws may have actually worked in this case. Signs point to natural gas as the source of the explosion.

Records show family (sister and ex-wife) had tried to get him mental health treatment, which is hard to do with an adult.

Calling him "racist against white people" is ridiculous. He was an untreated paranoid schizophrenic, he didn't have coherent thoughts, he thought anyone and everyone was out to get him.

Pretty clearly he was racist against white people, he put that right on YouTube. If it was a white paranoid schizophrenic racist he'd still be a racist, works both ways.

[Anonymous]

I still can't believe this guy blew up his house and I"m so glad that the next door neighbor's were not home. What hell it must have been living next door to him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The house was barricaded for a few hours before it exploded and the guy inside was shooting flares out the window for hours. I think this is a DV/bomb thing, not meth lab.

What’s DV mean?

domestic violence, but it wasn't. he lived alone and was a crazy recluse with tin foil on the windows and loads of lawsuits against all sorts of parties. more like suicide by cops or a lure and trap for LE.

I agree it was suicide by LE, however, we don't know he didn't abuse the wife and child he ended up suing.

[Anonymous]

^^ sister.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Beyond weird how giddy this man is after just witnessing a horrible explosion.

I imagine there was some adrenaline going. Like can you imagine looking out your window and seeing that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This guy is sooo DC.

The epitome of North Arlington, right here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So incredibly sad that this man didn’t get mental health treatment he so obviously needs . How did he get so many guns?

To clear the air:

This is a regular SFH/brick duplex neighborhood in Arlington a couple of blocks from the Ballston metro, near a popular trail, a big elementary school, a large community center, etc. About as low-crime, suburban kind of neighborhood as it gets, with those small, close-in lots.

There's no such thing as a "meth lab" in Arlington, lots are too small and rents are too high for there to be vacant properties like that. Small older houses sell for $850K in one week and are torn down to build $1.5M McMansions.

There is no evidence of any guns except the flare gun, so laws may have actually worked in this case. Signs point to natural gas as the source of the explosion.

Records show family (sister and ex-wife) had tried to get him mental health treatment, which is hard to do with an adult.

Calling him "racist against white people" is ridiculous. He was an untreated paranoid schizophrenic, he didn't have coherent thoughts, he thought anyone and everyone was out to get him.

Quite a bit of speculation, opinion and made-up narratives you've got going on here...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live in the area and were told the suspect has tin foil covering his windows. Apparently the house was up for sale a few years ago but he also chased off potential buyers with a knife.

How the heck can someone’s mental health issues/danger to society be so obvious and yet we do nothing? Honestly this incident was a failure to this man as much as the surrounding neighbors. He clearly had paranoid delusions and was likely psychotic. Would have been better to stabilize him with medical treatment than deal with this fallout.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in the area and were told the suspect has tin foil covering his windows. Apparently the house was up for sale a few years ago but he also chased off potential buyers with a knife.

How the heck can someone’s mental health issues/danger to society be so obvious and yet we do nothing? Honestly this incident was a failure to this man as much as the surrounding neighbors. He clearly had paranoid delusions and was likely psychotic. Would have been better to stabilize him with medical treatment than deal with this fallout.

How do you propose to force him to take medication? I feel for his family. Sad, but since he is clearly violent, if he won't help himself by taking medication, we are better off without him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in the area and were told the suspect has tin foil covering his windows. Apparently the house was up for sale a few years ago but he also chased off potential buyers with a knife.

How the heck can someone’s mental health issues/danger to society be so obvious and yet we do nothing? Honestly this incident was a failure to this man as much as the surrounding neighbors. He clearly had paranoid delusions and was likely psychotic. Would have been better to stabilize him with medical treatment than deal with this fallout.

Once people are adults they are allowed to be crazy. It's incredibly difficult for family members to have another adult committed or forced into mental health treatment. Adults have agency and you are allowed to be a paranoid weirdo as long as you aren't breaking any laws. But yes, we should be investing in resources to help people like this not fall through the cracks and end up on the news.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I still can't believe this guy blew up his house and I"m so glad that the next door neighbor's were not home. What hell it must have been living next door to him.

I keep thinking about this too. They have 2 young elementary kids from what I’ve read online (as do I). I can’t imagine trying to just be a mom and go about normal family life while having a dangerous paranoid person next door making threats online. Like obviously this didn’t happen overnight. These poor people have likely been dealing with this stuff for a while now, what an added load of stress.

I am now even more grateful for my normal neighbors!

It should have never gotten to this point though, if he was actively posting this stuff online seems like there should have been enough for some sort of psych hold?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well I'm glad no one but the dangerous guy died.

That poor family next door. All of their stuff is gone.

Will insurance help them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in the area and were told the suspect has tin foil covering his windows. Apparently the house was up for sale a few years ago but he also chased off potential buyers with a knife.

How the heck can someone’s mental health issues/danger to society be so obvious and yet we do nothing? Honestly this incident was a failure to this man as much as the surrounding neighbors. He clearly had paranoid delusions and was likely psychotic. Would have been better to stabilize him with medical treatment than deal with this fallout.

There are some people who will not take medication because they do not believe anything is wrong with them! That is why it is so hard to get them help. You cannot help people who do not want help and who actively resist it (even violently).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Beyond weird how giddy this man is after just witnessing a horrible explosion.

I imagine there was some adrenaline going. Like can you imagine looking out your window and seeing that?

Yep. When we lived in DC the neighbors next door got raided by the ATF and the MPD (they were in a local drug crew and had a large cache of weapons). Heard a blast as LE entered the house (they detonated a lock in the process) and then saw we were on the wrong side of the yellow tape. Scary but also a huge adrenaline rush - lot of nervous laughter over the next few hours.