Body found in basement area of Raytown duplex that exploded Monday night, ATF says
Investigators have found the body of a dead person in the basement area of a Raytown home that exploded and caught fire Monday evening, according to authorities.
John Ham, spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Kansas City division, said once the building is secure, the body will be removed and taken to the Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office for identification.
“It’s gone from a sad event to a tragic event,” Ham said.
The explosion, reported before 7 p.m., left several people injured at the duplex in the 7500 block of Englewood Avenue. Police gave no word on the cause of the explosion or the extent of injury to others who may have been nearby or inside.
“There were multiple injuries reported but further details are unknown,” Capt. Dyron Harper, a spokesman for Raytown police, said in a statement Monday night.
Roughly half of the duplex structure was reduced to rubble. Several fire trucks and emergency vehicles, including police and emergency medical personnel, remained on the scene well into nightfall. The dead-end road was cordoned off by police tape. Smoke could be seen well into the distance for more than an hour after crews first arrived.
Neighbors, meanwhile, described a chaotic scene unfolding in the evening hours. Several onlookers gazed from the street as fire trucks slowly backed off the block.
One woman, who lives nearby and asked not to be identified, said she was driving in the area when the explosion went off. She saw roughly two dozen people running and screaming as several loud bangs rang out.
She called her husband a half mile down the road. He also heard a “loud boom,” she said. The woman caught a glimpse of the damage.
“I thought, ‘That house is gone,’” she said.
The Missouri Fire Marshal’s Office is leading the investigation. Agents with the ATF were assisting.
This story was originally published June 29, 2021 at 1:33 PM.
