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Explosion kills man, injures another

Authorities want to know why they were in a home that had been unoccupied for months.

By RICK GERSHMAN
Published October 12, 2006

TAMPA - An explosion inside a Grant Park home early Wednesday morning left one man dead and another clinging to life.

It also left many questions about what caused the explosion and the resulting fire and what the two men were doing at 2 a.m. inside the home, which had been unoccupied for months.

The house at 3803 N 53rd St. was destroyed. Authorities released little information Wednesday, promising more today.

"We know the cause of the fire, but we're not releasing it yet, pending further investigation," said Tampa Police Department spokesman Larry McKinnon.

He identified the injured man as Kariem Nathan Johnston, 25, of Raintree Lane in Temple Terrace.

In the seconds that followed the explosion, neighbors said they saw Johnston running around outside surrounding homes, aflame from his shoulders to his head.

Johnston suffered second- and third-degree burns over more than 90 percent of his body, said Capt. Bill Wade of Tampa Fire Rescue. Johnston remained in "extremely critical condition" Wednesday evening at Tampa General Hospital.

Investigators had not been able to identify the dead man, found in the debris, because he was so badly burned, McKinnon said. They could make out his gender and that he likely was in his 30s but little else, including his race.

They do know that the dead man and Johnston were not living in the home. And the dead man was not the home's owner, a Tampa man named Ndidi Osuji, whom investigators interviewed on Wednesday, McKinnon said.

He did say the explosion was not the result of a methamphetamine lab, and that no signs of illegal drug activity were found.

He confirmed that there were no gas fixtures inside the home, eliminating the possibility of a natural gas explosion. But whatever exploded blew the front door about 20 feet out into the front yard.

Online property records list the homeowner as Michael Tyree, who purchased it about a year ago. However, Tyree told the St. Petersburg Times Wednesday he sold the home to Osuji, a car salesman, about two weeks ago.

Tyree, who did not live in the house, said he sold it because it had been "a demon." He dealt with problem tenants, break-ins and a lawsuit just over the course of a year.

It went unrented the past several months. To scare off squatters, Tyree's mother made a makeshift sign from duct tape and permanent marker, attaching it to an adjacent shed.

It read: Keep Out. You Will Be Shot.

Firefighters and police officers arrived at the home at 2:08 a.m. Wednesday, discovering Johnston rolling around on the ground near 32nd Avenue and Garrison Street. His wallet, partially burned and melted, was discovered in the home's driveway later that day.

William Banker, who lives next door, said he fled from his home seconds after the explosion and saw Johnston on fire near some mailboxes about 20 feet away. He headed for Johnston to try to put out the flames.

"I yelled 'Hey!' but he got up and ran away," Banker said. "He was all on fire from his shoulders up. He ran around the corner, and he ran through someone's back yard, on fire. He was flying around, running fast."

Times researcher Cathy Wos and photojournalist Joseph Garnett Jr. contributed to this report.

[Last modified October 12, 2006, 01:12:36]