Eight officers sustained minor injuries — including burns and at least one head laceration — following the blast, and all individuals inside the building have been located, although several were transported to a hospital, according to police.
Body camera footage from the police reveals officers preparing to enter a small home in Queens before 3 a.m., and as one begins to open the door, a massive explosion occurs, shattering windows and sending officers tumbling back across a yard and into a gate. The officers are then seen attempting to recover through debris while smoke billows from the house, checking on one another for injuries.
“Everybody alright?” one officer can be heard asking.
The video then transitions to about a minute later, showing an officer assisting two young children out of the home, with several others staggering out behind them.
Also Read: US Iran War Ceasefire News Live Updates
“I want to emphasize: We were very fortunate today, okay,” Assistant Chief Christopher McIntosh of the New York Police Department stated at a news conference hours later. “This could have had a very different outcome.”
“Fortunately, today, luck was in their favor,” he remarked about the officers.
McIntosh explained that the man who triggered the original call arrived at the residence intoxicated, wielding a knife and carrying two garbage bags full of canisters containing an “unknown substance.” He forced an air conditioning unit to enter a basement apartment where his wife, daughter, and two grandchildren resided.
They were ultimately able to escape the building just before officers arrived. The man remains unaccounted for, McIntosh noted.
The house collapsed after the explosion, authorities reported. Nearby homes were also affected by the blast.
Also Read: Who is Ali al-Zaidi? Iraq’s PM-designate invited by Trump to White House
