Arlington police release video of a house explosion which had 35 gallons of gas in his basement

The man who was killed in an Arlington home explosion in December caused the blast himself, officials said Friday, when he took up to 35 gallons of gasoline to his basement that were then set off with firearms, matches or a lighter.

James Yoo, 56, engaged in a standoff with authorities on Dec. 4 at his Northern Virginia home before it exploded with him inside, local and federal authorities said at a news conference detailing their investigation into the incident. Officials said that he died in the blast, which gripped the D.C. suburb with its sudden, loud boom.

The explosion sent flames, smoke and debris raining down on the Bluemont area, displacing a family that lived in the other half of Yoo’s duplex and generating rampant speculation across Arlington about the source of the incident. Authorities said no one outside the home was seriously hurt in the explosion.

Officials said Friday that they had reviewed some social media posts from Yoo expressing suspicion of government and law enforcement, but that they could not connect those to the cause of the explosion.

“As far as motive, unfortunately, we’re not going to know,” Arlington Police Chief Andy Penn said at the news conference.

During the standoff, an armored Arlington police vehicle breached the door to Yoo’s residence at 844 N. Burlington St. to execute a warrant. Responding officers have not been accused of wrongdoing in the incident.

Yoo, who records show had inherited the home from his parents, had rarely been seen around his neighborhood and did not interact with others on the block before the explosion, residents told The Washington Post last year. He had gone through a contentious divorce, had a history of alcohol abuse and filing rambling lawsuits, and had repeatedly complained to the FBI, to no avail, that he was a fraud victim, The Post reported last fall.

Penn said Friday that Yoo had limited interactions with local police, who had responded to his address a few times regarding noise-related complaints. One neighbor told police that Yoo appeared to be amassing large quantities of charcoal and lighter fluid. Others mentioned that he had strewn toilet paper around nearby trees and covered up his windows with black trash bags.

The incident happened on Dec. 4, when someone began firing “a flare-type gun” in the 800 block of North Burlington Street, police said. When officers arrived at Yoo’s home about 5 p.m., they were met with gunfire. More than 40 flares went off over a period of 25 minutes, police said.

Shortly before 8:30 p.m., an enormous blast from inside the home, heard for miles, reduced the place to splinters and rained debris all over the block. Police said Friday that remains later found in the rubble were determined to be Yoo’s. A medical examiner determined that Yoo had died of thermal injuries and blunt force trauma.

Arlington fire officials said the natural gas line to Yoo’s home had been shut off before the explosion. Officials said that authorities on the scene used chemical munitions, including tear gas and pepper spray in liquid and powder form, but that neither substance would have triggered the blast.

Police later found the remains of three gas canisters amid the rubble in Yoo’s basement, including two 5-gallon cans and another that looked to be between 20 and 25 gallons, Penn said.

Multiple shotguns, a pistol, flare guns, matches or a lighter could have set gas vapors on fire, he added.