Gas Was Turned Off Before Massive Arlington, Virginia, House Explosion, Fire Department Says

The fire department turned off the gas at an Arlington, Virginia home before it exploded in a massive fireball Monday, authorities said Tuesday, leaving lingering questions about what caused the blast.

Resident James Yoo, 56, is presumed dead following the explosion, police said.

Authorities said they would not speculate on the cause of the explosion and that the investigation remains ongoing.

Nobody else was seriously injured, but the explosion has impacted 10 nearby households, including Yoo's neighbors in his duplex.

Two police officers were lightly injured, but no one else was harmed. Officials credited their decision to evacuate the area about 90 minutes before the blast with saving lives.

Officers responded to Yoo's home at about 4:45 p.m. Monday after receiving reports of shots fired. Yoo had fired a flare gun about 30 to 40 times from inside the home into the surrounding neighborhood.

Police attempted to make contact with the Yoo and serve a search warrant, but Yoo remained barricaded in the home until the explosion.

Yoo had repeatedly attempted to contact the FBI before his death to report unfounded claims of "frauds" against him, police said. "The nature of those communications did not lead to opening any FBI investigations," police said.

Authorities also said they are aware of paranoid ramblings on social media reportedly made by Yoo before the explosion that has since gone viral. Yoo appeared to post on his since-deleted LinkedIn account that his neighbors were stalking him, claiming one neighbor was a witch or alien and was planning an attack on Thurs. Dec. 7, the anniversary of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Yoo also allegedly disparaged the government and law enforcement, including the FBI, in his posts.