Credit: Jim Noelker
Credit: Jim Noelker
“There was an explosion next door,” said a neighbor who called 911. “Smoke is rolling out of their house.”
The neighbor said he did not know what happened, but that he heard a “very muffled low boom” and that he “was able to see a bright flash.”
Union police and Union, Clayton and Englewood fire departments also responded to the explosion call.
The FBI is in charge of the investigation, Union police said Tuesday night.
There were no injuries, but Union police would not say what was found inside the home nor what caused the apparent explosion that led nearby homes to be evacuated and for police to block Warner Drive.
Montgomery County property records list Connell T. Gubser as the owner of the house on Warner Drive that is the focus of the investigation.
A man by that name at the same address was booked at 9:20 p.m. into the Montgomery County Jail on suspicion of unlawful possession of a dangerous ordnance. Union police arrested 68-year-old Gubser, who is not formally charged and is being held without bond, jail records show.
Credit: Montgomery County Jail
Credit: Montgomery County Jail
Gubser also was involved in a January 2019 SWAT standoff, according to records.
Gubser was charged with inducing panic, having weapons while intoxicated and disorderly conduct in the Jan. 29, 2019, incident, according to Vandalia Municipal Court records.
Gubser pleaded guilty April 15, 2019, to inducing panic and was sentenced to one year of probation and ordered to continue mental health and alcohol treatment. The judge suspended 180 days in jail. The other two charges were dismissed, court records show.
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