ARLINGTON COUNTY, Va. — It has been a wild week for the families who live along North Burlington Street in the Bluemont neighborhood of Arlington.
Thursday afternoon the families, who had been evacuated before Monday night's explosion, were finally allowed to return home. That is, except for the family who lived in the duplex attached to the one that exploded.
As of 10 p.m. on Thursday, a GoFundMe Page that was created for the family that lost everything had surpassed $200,000.
Thursday, WUSA9 stopped by the neighborhood as residents were being allowed back home.
"We just got home we're going through our fridges we just got our power and heat back on," said Gavin Johnston, who lives across the street from the home that exploded.
He and his neighbors have been through so much. On Monday, he was on his way to the grocery store when he noticed something was off at his neighbor's home.
"Before I left I noticed at the end of the street in the cul-de-sec that there was trash and debris and clothes all over the power lines. I took some photos hours beforehand. The Safeway is about 300 meters away and I grabbed like two ingredients and before I even made it back to my truck, I saw flares were going off and I knew something was very very wrong," he told WUSA9.
He says he didn't know much about the man who lived there, James Yoo.
"James Yoo has been an absolute recluse. The house has always been boarded up with plywood covered in tinfoil for a long long time," he said.
But now he explained, he and his neighbors are dealing with another issue.
"People are coming from all over, with Maryland plates just to get a looky-loo at what's going on," said Johnston.
He and his neighbors appreciate the support they've received but are begging people to stay away.
"This is a neighborhood with real human beings with real lives please stay away this is not some sideshow or circus," said Johnston.
Police responded to a home in the 800 block of North Burlington Street around 4:45 p.m. for reports of a man firing a flare gun in the neighborhood. Investigators believe Yoo fired the flare gun more than 30 times from his house into the neighborhood. No injuries or property damage were reported from the shots fired.
As police were attempting to serve a search warrant on the home, police tried to talk to Yoo via telephone and loudspeakers with no response. Police say Yoo remained barricaded inside.
Emergency response team members breached the front door to try and communicate with Yoo, or allow him to surrender himself around 8 p.m. That's when officers heard what they believed to be multiple gunshots from inside the home. Arlington Police Chief Andy Penn said officers could not locate the source of gunfire or its target. The officers deployed chemicals meant to irritate Yoo into surrender.
The house exploded around 8:25 p.m.
Multiple agencies, local and national, are investigating the circumstances surrounding the explosion, and can not give a timeline of when the investigation will conclude.
While neither fire nor police officials could comment on the cause or origin of the explosion, it was noted that the gas for the house was turned off before the explosion.