BREAKING: Suspect in Arlington home explosion presumed dead after human remains found on site

On Tuesday, police confirmed that the suspect in the Arlington, Virginia home explosion, 56-year-old James Yoo, had been inside at the time of the blast, and was "presumed to be deceased."

Yoo's home in the Bluemont neighborhood exploded while police were attempting to serve a search warrant following reports that he had set off flare gun from within earlier in the day.

"Based on the preliminary investigation of this incident, we believe that the resident of the home, James Yoo ... is the involved suspect," Arlington County Police Chief Andy Penn said. 

"The suspect was inside the residence at the time of the explosion, and he is presumed at this point to be deceased. Human remains have been located at the scene, and the office of the chief medical examiner will work to positively identify the individual, and determine the cause and manor of death."

According to the Arlington County Police Department, officers were called to a duplex on the 800 block of North Burlington Street around 4:45 pm to investigate reports that someone had "discharged a flare gun 30 - 40 times from inside his residence into the surrounding neighborhood."

While his actions did not result in any injuries or property damage, officers nonetheless obtained a search warrant and tried to make contact with him via telephone and loudspeaker. Their attempts proved fruitless, and the suspect remained "barricaded" inside.

At around 8:25 pm, he "discharged several rounds" from what authorities believe was a firearm, resulting in the aforementioned explosion. The blast sent shockwaves through the surrounding area as residents watched debris fly into the air and the structure burn to the ground.

The fire department arrived on the scene a short time later, and by 10:30 pm, the blaze was extinguished.

As Newsweek reports, Yoo's social media posts often had anti-government and anti-police messages, and said that own neighbors, who he called "spies," were assigned to monitor him for their "handlers."

His YouTube channel included videos with pictures from his LinkedIn page depicting people he claimed were his neighbors entering and leaving their homes, according to the outlet.