KB News Desk
South Korean police are investigating whether Thursday’s explosion and fire at an apartment complex in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province, was a premeditated attack by a resident who had been in a long-running dispute with the complex’s management.
Police booked the suspect, a resident in his 70s, without detention on suspicion of setting fire to an occupied building and causing injuries.
The fire, believed to have been deliberately set, broke out inside the management office of an apartment complex in Sa-dong at 8:29 a.m. It was extinguished about 20 minutes later.
Eight people ranging from their 40s to 70s were injured, including two men and six women. The suspect was among the injured and suffered burns across his body. He is being treated in the intensive care unit of a specialist hospital in Daegu.
Five aged residents who had been staying at a senior community center directly across from the management office also suffered burns.
According to police findings and witness accounts, the suspect entered the management office carrying what appeared to be a flammable substance shortly before the explosion. He emerged from the office after a loud blast and fire, returned to his home and came back outside carrying a knife, police said.
The man then roamed the apartment complex shouting words to the effect of, “I’ll kill everyone.”
When responding officers pointed their firearms at him and ordered him to drop the knife, the suspect complied and lay on the ground before being apprehended.
Police believe he may have carried out the attack after harboring resentment over a prolonged dispute concerning the operation of the apartment complex.
Residents said the suspect had repeatedly confronted management staff over the complex’s rules and other administrative matters.
He had recently run for an executive position in an election for a residents’ representative, but lost. He was later accused of causing a disturbance and damaging the ballot box.
A meeting between residents and management officials over the complex’s management rules had been scheduled for the day of the fire.
One resident said the suspect had repeatedly visited the management office and caused disturbances even before the election. He allegedly caused another disturbance there on Wednesday, a day before the fire.
Residents told police that power cords connected to surveillance cameras covering areas throughout the complex, barring the management office, had been damaged before the explosion.
