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found today in a suburban San Diego home that
burned down Saturday after a man called 911
claiming to have shot his wife and saying he was
going to set their house on fire.
The remains of one body, which authorities said
today appeared to be that of a 60-year-old man, were
removed from the rubble after the fire was
extinguished Saturday, but officials have not
identified the victim.
The blaze in Santee, Calif., caused a neighbor's
house to catch fire, according to the San Diego
County Sheriff's Department, because firefighters were
hindered by threats from someone inside the house
and the sound of explosions as the house burned.
The fire at the home, which public records indicate
belonged to 60-year-old Michael Cour and 70-year-o
ld Janice Gervais since 1999, was reported at 2:40
p.m. Saturday.
The World Savings Bank had foreclosed on the
property on Dec. 6, and the couple filed for voluntary
bankruptcy last summer, according to KABC-TV Los
Angeles.
A man called 911 Saturday afternoon and told
deputies that he had shot his wife and was going to
burn his house down, at which point a homicide unit
from the shriff's department was immediately sent to
the scene.
The man also said he would shoot any deputies who
showed up, according to the San Diego Union-
Tribune.
Neighbors speaking with ABC News affiliate KGTV in
San Diego said they smelled gas coming from the
house before the fire.
Nathan Hoover, one of the neighbors, also said he
thought his neighbor was joking when he told him
and his roommates on Saturday that he was going to
Hoover said that within minutes he saw flames
shooting from the house and he began to hear
unusual loud noises.
"Here we are smelling gasoline in the house coming
over, so we knew that he wasn't messing around,"
Hoover said.
"There were explosions ... so he must have owned a
lot of ammunition or had plans or something," he s
aid. "You could hear the pow ... that type of sound."
Speaking with KGTV, Hoover said that he knows little
about the residents at the house, but he said it was a
man and wife, whose names he never knew.
Santee Deputy Fire Chief Richard Mattick said
firefighters who arrived on the scene were not able to
immediately enter the house, as there was a clear
threat that an armed man may be inside.
"Our primary concern, of course, is life safety, our
personnel and the public," Mattick said. "We don't
know the quantity that's in there, we don't know if
there are weapons or gunpowder in there extra ... so
we take those things very seriously."
m., destroyed the home and caused damage to a
nearby home, according to a Heartland Fire
Department dispatcher.
Once the fire was officially out, firefighters
discovered the charred remains of one person, and
began searching for a second body.
Speaking to the San Diego Union-Tribune, neighbor
Ruth Taloza said the man who lived in the house
recently came to her home to give her an air
compressor. When she walked across the street to
thank him, he revealed that his wife has cancer, and
that they were losing their home.
"He told me they're being kicked out of their home
and they were both laid off from their jobs," Taloza
said. "They had tried for a lower loan rate and were
denied."
The sheriff's bomb arson squad and a homicide unit
are investigating the incident, according to the San
Diego Sheriff's Department.
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