Local authorities have identified the body found among the rubble from an explosion and early Wednesday morning fire at a Gaithersburg condo complex. Police officials said investigators are handling the incident as a criminal investigation.
Marcus Jones, the county’s police chief, told reporters during a news briefing Friday that the state medical examiner said the body was identified as that of Juan Pablo Marshall Quizon, who owned a condo at 826 Quince Orchard Boulevard.
Investigators have found a suicide note from Quizon at the scene, but police and Scott Goldstein, the county’s fire chief, declined to say where that alleged note was found or what it said.
Jones did say that Quizon died by suicide of smoke inhalation and burns, according to the state medical examiner.
Fourteen people were injured in the explosion, and 10 were hospitalized. On Friday, Goldstein said that all 10 were discharged from the hospital.
Goldstein said he and police were still investigating to see what exactly caused the explosion. The police chief said, however, that the alleged suicide note and interviews with witnesses indicate that Quizon was planning to die by suicide.
“He made statements that were indicative of intentions of suicide,” Jones said.
Police said they received a missing persons report at around 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday that Quizon was missing. Quinzon’s mother did not list the Quince Orchard Boulevard address as a residence, Goldstein said.
Witnesses also did not know that Quizon owned the condo at 826 Quince Orchard Boulevard, Jones said. Land records indicate he bought it in August, Jones said.
Investigators were treating the incident as a criminal investigation, Jones said.
“If Mr. Quizon was still with us … that he would have been criminally culpable in this case due to the number of individuals injured and the property damage,” Jones said.
He said that Quizon also resided in Rockville, and was involved in the scrap metal business, but no other information was available.
Officials from the Department of Health and Human Services set up a fundraiser website and shelter to help residents displaced by the fire. The shelter is located nearby Bohrer Park, at 506 South Frederick Ave.
Roughly $62,000 dollars has been collected by county officials, Goldstein said.