Plot thickens in Clinton Township building explosion with 'human involvement' not being ruled out
CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (FOX 2) - The plot thickened in the investigation of a Clinton Township building explosion that left one dead and damaged area businesses around the site after a 31-year-old man was arraigned on a single count of involuntary manslaughter this week.
Noor Kestou, of Commerce Township, needed to be extradited back to Michigan after local police were notified he had purchased a one-way ticket to Hong Kong. He was at JFK International Airport in New York City when his passport was flagged.
Only a person of interest at the time, an arrest warrant for Kestou was authorized after his appearance in New York was reported. He was taken into custody on April 24 and returned to Macomb County, where he was arraigned on a single count.
"We don’t know what his ultimate goal was," said Macomb County Prosecutor Pete Lucido during a Friday news conference. "Was it to stay out of the country with a wife and child here? But we do know that he’s in custody."
The involuntary manslaughter charge stems from the death of a 19-year-old man who was struck by a nitrous oxide canister a quarter mile away from the building, where a blast reported the night of March 4 turned into the source of a massive police investigation.
Kestou was the sole owner of the property at the time.
Noor Kestou, 31 of Commerce Township, was charged with involuntary manslaughter.
He's since been released on $500,000 bond cash only, and is wearing a tether. His passport remains in police custody in New York.
More than a month and a half since the blast, the origin is still unknown, Clinton Township Fire Chief Tim Duncan said Friday. "The intensity of this fire essentially damaged a lot of what they normally would look to try and conclude what was going to happen on this scene."
He added investigators couldn't exclude "human involvement" in the fire.
MORE: Series of Clinton Township explosions 'was like a war zone' as debris was found 2 miles away
Part of the problem is it took weeks for crews to make the site safe, spending much of the time stamping out fires that would pop up. The fire department released the property back to the company that owned it on April 19 and dozens of insurance investigators were spotted at the scene, flying a drone to get a scope of the damage.
Some of those investigators were from area businesses impacted by the original blast.
Duncan added that no one has been able to access the physical site on foot. However, the EPA and ATF were both involved in making sure it was safe. Over 3,100 canisters of nitrous oxide remain on the property.
"Our hope is that in the future when they actually get on the site and start pulling everything away, we're trying to maintain that southwest corner of the building, which is where we believe the fire started based upon the information that we've seen, video that was obtained from nearby businesses, and all the other information that we're seeing at this point," the fire chief said.
Some cameras were inside the building at the time.
The explosion has also led to follow-up inspections of several vendors that also possess flammable materials like nitrous oxide on their site, ensuring they have the proper quantity and are safely storing them.
The city has already located at least one other business that was out of compliance, officials said.
According to city records, the suspect business did not have a working fire suppression system at the time of an inspection - though nothing was stored inside the building at the time.
Owner of Clinton Twp vape shop that exploded had one-way ticket to Hong Kong, arrested at JFK
The man who owned a Clinton Twp. vape shop the caught fire and exploded in March was arrested in New York while trying to fly to Hong Kong.