Police, Fire Marshal Make Arrest in Apartment Blast

By WYDaily Staff Friday, May 21, 2010

A 37-year-old Williamsburg man has been charged with causing the explosion that set fire to an apartment building in March.

Robert Allen Bull is being held without bond at the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail. Williamsburg Fire Department spokesman Eric Stone said Bull faces two felony counts of malicious bodily injury by means of explosive or fire, and misdemeanor charges of release of hazardous materials, release of propane gas into the atmosphere, and inhaling noxious chemical substances.

Investigators from the city fire marshal’s office today served warrants against Bull at the regional jail, where he was being held on other, unrelated charges.

Stone said investigators were still looking into the circumstances surrounding the early morning explosion March 25 in a basement storage area at the apartment building, Parkway Apartment Complex in the 400 block of Merrimac Trail in the city. Stone did note that several aerosol cans and punctured propane tanks were found at the scene.

Stone said Bull’s last known address was the Parkway Apartment Complex. Bull’s name was not on any lease in the 10-apartment complex, however.

Several people, including Bull, were injured in the March blast. A family of three – a man, woman and child – in an apartment above the basement where the blast originated – suffered injuries and were treated at area hospitals. Bull was treated and released about a day and a half after the blast, Stone said.