The 56-year-old suspected owner of the Virginia house that exploded Monday has a history of unusual behavior, extensive lawsuits, conspiracy theories, and anti-white social media posts, according to reports.
A video of the Arlington house exploding with police presence outside went viral Monday. Court documents and social media posts show the property was owned by James Yoo, according to Fox News.
On Tuesday, officials announced that they believed the owner of the house had died in the blast, reported the Associated Press. Police said that human remains found in the aftermath of the explosion are presumed to be Yoo’s, per The Washington Post.
The cause of the explosion has not been determined at this point. However, authorities told reporters that the gas line to Yoo’s home had been shut off at the time of the explosion, according to the WP. The explosion damaged between 10 and 12 homes in the surrounding neighborhood.
In a series of LinkedIn posts made just days ago, Yoo accused his neighbors of being spies, according to Nick Sortor, a self-described “independent journalist.” The posts also included anti-white comments.
“This is how White people operate and have the luxury of outnumbering all other ‘races’ by almost 7 to 1 in ‘Merica,” Yoo wrote, per Fox News.
Yoo had contacted the FBI to complain of fraud “via phone calls, online tips, and letters over a number of years,” said David Sundberg, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington field office, per the WP.
Yoo’s LinkedIn profile described himself as a “Former Head of Information and Physical Security for international telecommunication company,” reported Fox News.
In another post, Sortor wrote:
“Here are the key facts about the guy who seems to have blown up his home:
— He’s a far leftist that posts anti-white hatred and quotes Noam Chomsky
— He accused his neighbors of being spies on social media just three days ago
— He had a previous encounter with the FBI
— He filed countless frivolous lawsuits against his own sister and wife
— He was the former Head of Global Security at the U.S. government’s ‘Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)’
Yoo was CLEARLY spiraling out of control mentally, being committed to a mental institution by his wife and younger sister. This is why he sued them. He believed he was being followed by the U.S. government.
If he wasn’t being watched before, he DEFINITELY ended up on a watch list after he OBSESSIVELY emailed hundreds of people at the FBI and DOJ — including FBI Director Wray, Robert Mueller, and U.S. Attorney James Kennedy
As a result, the FBI showed up to Yoo’s house in 2017
There’s a TON of stuff to unpack here.”
One of the neighbors, Alex Wilson, told Arlington Now that Yoo was generally anti-social and had aluminum foil covering his windows. He also claimed that Yoo chased off potential buyers of the house with a knife a few years ago.
Wilson said he saw shots fired before the explosion. “When they rammed the front door he started firing an AR back at them,” he said.
Another neighbor, Sharney Wiringi, also described Yoo as a recluse. “If you saw a human in that house, it would be a miracle,” she said, per the WP.
“Nobody in the neighborhood really knew him,” she said.
Yoo, who inherited the house from his parents, attempted to file lawsuits this year against his ex-wife, the State of New York, and dozens of others, according to Fox News. He alleged fraud, conspiracy to deprive civil rights, and other crimes. A federal judge dismissed the charges as “frivolous and confused.”
According to the WP, Yoo’s court records show that his divorce was contentious. Yoo was allegedly meant to sell the house by October 2020 as part of the divorce settlement.
