By Fox 61
At least 9 people were injured when a barn exploded behind a house where police were negotiating with a man who had taken his wife hostage. It all happened at 385 Quinnipiac Avenue.
Yale-New Haven Hospital says they had 9 patients from the incident, and they all in fair condition.
Remains were found in the house, though police do not have a positive identity.
(A house in Connecticut has exploded while police and a SWAT team were outside, responding to a report of a barricaded person. The explosion happened Wednesday night in North Haven. At least three police officers were seen being placed into ambulances. Courtesy of CBS News and YouTube. Posted on May 2, 2018)
North Haven First Selectman Michael Freda said that at least four officers were taken to a hospital, but that none had suffered life-threatening injuries in the explosion at a barn at the home around 8:30 p.m.
“This started late this afternoon with what was apparently a very violent domestic call,” Freda told FOX61. The police “were trying to coax him…out of the house and really try to calm the situation down. Then things took a turn for the worse with an explosion.”
The wife, the victim of the domestic situation, was the one who reported the domestic incident initially to police.
He said that the officers suffered cuts, abrasions and bruises. They were taken to Yale New Haven hospital, but their exact condition and that of the suspect and his family wasn’t immediately known.
Residents near the home said on the police department’s Facebook page that they heard the explosion and felt their own homes shake around 8:30 p.m.
Additional police rushed to the scene as the fire raged, and sounds of smaller explosions also were heard.
Neighbors tell me the man inside the home rigged his house to explode.
— Carmen Chau (@CChauFOX61) May 3, 2018
“I felt my house shake. It felt like a bomb went off in my attic,” David DiMartino, who lives nearby, told the New Haven Register.
Firefighters worked to get the blaze under control more than an hour later.
State police said they were assisting North Haven police with the investigation.
State police say they, at that time, did not have the suspect in custody as they were still trying to locate him.
(Learn More. The officers suffered injuries that are not life-threatening in the blast at a barn behind the couple’s home in Quinnipiac Avenue in North Haven on Wednesday night. The woman – who reportedly filed for divorce from her husband last month – called police at around 2.30pm after being held hostage for several days. It led to police officers and a SWAT team descending on the property and working for several hours to coax the suspect to come outside. During the stand-off, the barn – which may have been rigged to blow with booby traps – exploded at around 8.30pm, sparking a massive fire that spread to the house and injuring the officers at the scene. The woman, who was savagely beaten, was able to escape before the explosion occurred – but her estranged husband’s fate remains unclear. Police have also yet to elaborate on what detonated or if the suspect had explosives inside the home. Neighbours told Fox61 that the man had bombs inside the home. Courtesy of Daily Mail and YouTube. Posted on May 3,2018)
A volunteer firefighter told me he’s hearing several officers are down because of this pic.twitter.com/K0sLZY0c0l
— Carmen Chau (@CChauFOX61) May 3, 2018
#BREAKING just got these pics from resident in the area of a reported house explosion during a police standoff in #NorthHaven @FOX61News pic.twitter.com/oMBKy1fGg7
— Michael Howard (@MHoward_TV) May 3, 2018
