Police Grenade Ignites Fire, Razing Complex

An eight-unit apartment building burned to the ground Wednesday after police used an explosive device in an effort to flush out a man suspected in a confrontation that left a woman dead, police said.

The suspect, possibly armed, was believed to have been inside when the fire broke out, apparently ignited by a “flash-bang” diversionary concussion device set off by Riverside police, Sgt. Al Mendoza said.

Police did not begin searching the rubble until Wednesday afternoon and had yet to confirm whether the suspect was inside.

Police used the concussion device about 10:30 a.m. when a special weapons and tactics team forced its way into an apartment seeking to rescue a woman who had been seen lying on the living room floor. Police frequently use the devices during a standoff to startle gunmen and provide temporary cover for officers.

Officers emerged with the woman, who was declared dead at the scene. Her identity and cause of death were unavailable.

A neighbor, Kelly Burton, said he heard a loud noise in the woman’s apartment at 5:42 a.m. He looked outside, found nothing amiss, and left for work, Burton said.

“It sounded like a shotgun to me,” said Burton, who added that the dead woman, whom he knew as Judy, kept a shotgun for self-defense.

Police said they arrived at the apartments--a two-story stucco complex in a working-class district of southwestern Riverside--about 6 a.m. after another neighbor called 911. Two officers approached the apartment and knocked on the door, which was slightly open, Mendoza said. A male voice inside the apartment asked, “What do you want?”

After the officers identified themselves, Mendoza said, the apartment door slammed shut and the bolt was locked. The two officers looked in a broken window and saw the woman on the floor, he said.

Police sealed off the area, called the special weapons team and evacuated other residents. The man inside the apartment never fired at police, Mendoza said.

After the fire burned most of the day, firefighters doused the gutted building with water, but fear that the man was inside kept them from coming too close.

“We certainly don’t want firemen exposing themselves to danger from the suspect,” Mendoza said.

Police kept the area cordoned off all afternoon. It seemed unlikely that anyone could survive the intense heat of the blaze, authorities said.

“We’re just waiting for the fire to go out,” said Riverside Police Lt. Rick Albee. “We may have to wait all night and not go into until the morning.”

Meanwhile, residents attempted to come to grips with the reality of having lost their homes. “I lost everything I had,” Burton said.