CCPD releases 911 call from explosion at condominium
Cape Coral police released on Tuesday the 911 call for an explosion at a condo.
At about 6:30 p.m. Friday, officers responded to a call about an unknown problem involving a man down at 3956 Pomodoro Circle, located in the Isles of Porto Vista. According to a report, responding units found a man sitting outside on the ground with “major wounds consistent with an explosion.”
“Both arms from elbow down were detached,” the report states.
The apartment had broken windows, the doors blown off and smoke was coming from it.
The responding units searched the apartment, but no one was found inside.
The man, later identified as Justin Dennis McHenry, 31, of 3956 Pomodoro Circle, Unit 101, was trauma-alerted to Lee Memorial Hospital with life-threatening injuries, according to reports.
As of Tuesday, he was listed in serious condition at the hospital.
The reports indicates that the weapon/tools found on scene were “chemicals/acids.”
The 911 call starts with a woman requesting an ambulance. When prompted by the operator, the woman explains that she was in her unit cooking when she felt like something big was dropped. She told her daughter to go outside and look to the front side of the condo, where they see McHenry.
“There’s a gentleman sitting at the bottom of the stairs,” the woman tells the operator.
“I see his arms – you can see blood,” she says. “I can just see him saying, ‘Somebody help.'”
The woman states that she does not know the man or what happened to him.
When asked, she reports that the incident happened within the last 10 to 15 minutes.
A second operator relays that another caller is saying there is smoke coming from the first floor.
The woman reports that she does not see or smell any smoke.
“I felt like a thud on my floor,” she says. “I don’t know if it came from above or below.”
The woman adds that she initially wondered if someone hit the building.
The nearly five-minute call ends with the family being told to evacuate if there is a fire.
On Friday, the Lee County Bomb Squad, Lee County Sheriff’s Office, Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Federal Bureau of Investigation responded to the scene to help investigate.
Officials reported that residents in the area were evacuated as a precaution. Some of them returned home in the next several hours, while the Red Cross assisted the others with temporary lodging.
Family nor friends of McHenry could be reached for comment on Tuesday.
The investigation is ongoing, according to police.