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A body believed to be that of the suspect was recovered after an explosion triggered a five-alarm fire at a home in Queens early Thursday morning.
Multiple homes were damaged, and more than a dozen residents have been displaced, the New York Police Department said. The explosion and fire also injured at least seven NYPD officers. At last report, all were believed to be in stable condition.
The NYPD released dramatic bodycam video that captured the moment of the explosion, and the shock and trauma in its aftermath.
“The guy just set the house on fire, we’ve got an explosion,” one officer can be heard saying in the video.
The incident began when officers responded to a domestic dispute before 3 a.m. at a home on 130th Street in South Richmond Hill, NYPD Assistant Chief Christopher McIntosh said in a news conference.
The 911 caller was a family member of the man suspected of starting the fire, later identified as 50-year-old Anoop Parasram. The caller said it smelled like gas inside the home.
The suspect, allegedly intoxicated and armed with a knife, had forced his way inside the home through a basement window, police said.
“Once in the apartment, the [suspect’s] daughter and his two grandchildren manage to flee to safety,” McIntosh said.
The suspect began “menacing and threatening” another victim with a knife, McIntosh said, but that victim was able to escape. When officers arrived on scene, one of the victims gave officers a key to the home.
“Our officers were at the front door of the residence, attempting to enter, when suddenly a massive, fiery explosion erupted,” McIntosh said.
The explosion occurred about 15 minutes after the initial 911 call. Seconds after the blast, NYPD officers, some of whom had been injured, rushed in and safely evacuated residents, including several children.
CBS News New York later learned that a body believed to be that of the suspect was recovered from the rubble of the blast.
CBS News has learned that the suspect had three expired orders of protection against him, and police had been previously called to the home numerous times. CBS News also obtained security video from a neighbor which appears to show a person carrying what the NYPD has described as two garbage bags filled with canisters of an unknown substance prior to the incident.
The cause of the explosion remains under investigation.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani expressed his gratitude to first responders in a social media post, saying they displayed “extraordinary bravery.”
The Red Cross also responded and was assisting 18 adults and seven children with temporary housing.
Officers “thrown off their feet”
After arriving on scene, when officers attempted to enter the home, there was an explosion, which shattered windows outward.
“Multiple officers were thrown off their feet with some being launched into gates at the front of the residence,” McIntosh said.
Police bodycam video captured officers’ reactions to the blast.
Video shows one officer recovering two children as a woman can be heard saying, “I can’t breathe,” and, “Where’s my baby?”
CBS News New York
One officer suffered severe cuts to the head. Several residents were also taken to local hospitals, McIntosh said.
Nearly 300 firefighters and EMS personnel responded to put out the fire caused by the explosion. They said the two-story home was fully engulfed when crews arrived.
The flames quickly spread to a home next door. Video from the scene showed large clouds of smoke coming from the block.
“We got very lucky today,” McIntosh said. “This could have turned out really differently.”
Neighbors heard the explosion
“It was a loud boom and possible gunshots, because I saw the police officers backing up, and then they were like, ‘You got to evacuate, you got to evacuate,'” one resident said. “I just grabbed what I could and hopped in my car and drove away ’cause worst comes to worst, I could at least sit in my car and charge my phone, and go to someone’s house.”
An NYPD spokesperson said there were no gunshots, however.
“I could see the back of the house. I could see outside, all of the windows were gone. You could already tell, the whole inside there was burned out,” resident Winston Sampson said.
“All I see is people running all over the place, screaming, ‘We’ve got to get out of here. We’ve got to get out of here,'” neighbor Harry Ramsundar said. “The smoke and the flame was so much.”
