May 3 (UPI) — Several Connecticut police officers were injured late Wednesday when a building exploded and caught fire — after a domestic disturbance that lasted for three days.
A woman contacted North Haven, Conn., police Wednesday, and as officers worked to get her husband to come out, a barn on the property exploded — setting off a blaze that spread to the main house.
“I heard them screaming,” neighbor John Marotto told the Hartford Courant. “They got blown away, back from the garage.
“I saw a fireball come off the back of the garage, and then the roof was gone. The side facing our house was totally gone. It was unbelievable — the noise, unbelievable. I thought I was in a war zone.”
Official Michael Freda said police had been “trying to appease the situation and a back building was booby-trapped.”
“Apparently, that was an explosion,” he said.
Witnesses said they heard gunshots and police officers using a loudspeaker asking the suspect to come out.
Police say the man had kept his wife barricaded for three days in the home. She was able to escape and is being treated for injuries. The suspect’s condition is unknown.
North Haven Deputy Police Chief Jonathan Mulhern said as many as eight officers were injured. Yale New Haven Hospital said they received seven patients from the home explosion.
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