By Dan Verbeck
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-973393.mp3
Independence, MO. – It's not yet clear what blew up in Independence last evening , killing someone and raining debris for blocks. Neither has the Jackson county Medical Examiner been able to identify the person killed.
Federal bomb experts from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are working with police to learn what exploded, how much of it there was and what triggered it.
Police are treating the area a few blocks North of I-70 and just East of Blue Ridge Boulevard as if it was a crime scene. Independence Officer Tom Gentry says streets might reopen before tomorrow-- " We're slowly beginning to diminish the size of the field of the area of the debris. And hopefully we'll have that done by this evening."
Gentry says the blasts appeared to come from a building like a garage behind a house. Residents said the aftermath left a smell like burned gunpowder.