THE PIERCE COUNTY, WASHINGTON, SHERIFF SAYS THAT an explosion and fire that demolished a house late Monday night in Puyallup was caused by a man who was making a bomb in an upstairs bedroom.

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The unnamed miscreant had recently rented the room from a couple who live in the house.  When they returned this morning from a trip they found that he had changed the locks on the house, started drinking heavily and was making a bomb.  They called 911 and the sheriff’s deputies responded.

The Tacoma News Tribune reports:

Deputies responded to the house and found the man inside the kitchen. The man quickly grabbed a duffel bag, bottles and a few other items and ran upstairs, Troyer said.

The deputies recognized some of items in the bag as components of explosive devices. The deputies evacuated the couple and themselves from the house and called for back up.

“They recognized what was going on,” Troyer said.

Deputies surrounded the house and secured the scene. Within 10 minutes, a large blast rocked the house, blowing out the windows and window frames and igniting a large fire.

“It blew the second story off the house,” Troyer said. “Our deputies were standing 75 to 100 yards away. It drenched our deputies in beauty bark and dirt.”

Firefighters were forced to stay outside the burning house as smaller explosions continued to occur during the fire.  Bomb squad investigators found several suspicious packages in the man’s car and “disabled” them.

The 26-yr.-old man has not been seen since he ran up the stairs and is presumed to be in innumerable pieces amongst the debris of the demolished building.

Read the full News Tribune story HERE.

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