9 Officers Injured In Explosion At Conn. Home

NORTH HAVEN, Conn. (CBS) - Massive flames lit up the sky over North Haven Connecticut after an explosion rocked a neighborhood there Wednesday. One neighbor said it was so bad, he thought he was going to die.

"A flash went off! An explosion went right through the windows and right through his house and hit my roof. The whole house shook," said one neighbor.

"Literally stuff on our kitchen table was shaking. It was just unbelievable," said another.

Connecticut State Police say it all started Wednesday afternoon when they responded to a domestic violence call. A woman told police that her husband had held her hostage for three days,

Police say they went to the home with a SWAT team after the call. At some point, the woman was able to leave the home as police continued to negotiate with her husband.

"The suspect was barricaded within the residence on the property," said Deputy Chief Jonathan R. Mulhern with the North Haven Police Department. "During the course of normal containment, a loud explosion occurred."

Nine tactical officers who were on the scene were injured in the blast. A fire burned for hours afterward. Firefighters say when they were finally able to safely assess the property, an unknown victim was found dead inside a burned structure.

"There's going to be a post-mortem examination at the office of the chief medical examiner," said Trooper Kelly Grant with Connecticut State Police. "They will determine positive identity and of course the cause and manor of death."

As police work to piece together exactly what happened, neighbors in the quiet New England community say they're shocked by the incident

"This is such a quiet town, stuff like this never even happens around here," said one neighbor.