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After Pigtown explosion, neighbor finds out his home was robbed

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Posted at 11:49 PM, Nov 25, 2022
and last updated 2022-11-25 23:49:05-05

BALTIMORE — Officials responded to an explosion in a neighborhood in Pigtown Tuesday that left a teenager, woman and man in serious condition.

While the investigation is ongoing as to what caused the explosion, one neighbor says he is now left without a house and some of his things.

Jacob Booher, who owns the house beside where the explosion occurred, says his home is now condemned. He says he came back to gather some of his belongings on Thanksgiving only to find he had been robbed.

Booher was on his way to Boston to celebrate Thanksgiving with his girlfriend and family when he received an alert on his phone someone was entering his home.

"I pulled up the camera to look at it and I saw the firefighters coming into the house,” said Booher.

Booher says that's when they turned around to head back-- only to find the house next to his had exploded.

"I called my neighbor, it’s a husband and wife and daughter and the husband was out, I called him, he had heard something had happened but he wasn't sure. I told him to come over and unfortunately the wife and daughter were injured" said Booher.

On Tuesday, after the explosion occurred, city officials assured Booher the house would be boarded up.

They returned Wednesday-- but there were still no boards on the windows

"So I just called some friends, we went to get some lumber. In the meantime, a friend came over here, I asked him to come over to see if anyone was still on the site, they were so my friend asked if anyone was going to board it up and they said not to worry about that because they would be here all night. They were off duty police officers hired by BGE,” said Booher.

Booher and his friends returned Thanksgiving morning to board the windows themselves, but when they entered the home he noticed some things missing.

"come to find out someone had gone through my house and stolen quite a few things.”

He says on the first walk through he found that two tv's, a router table, a PlayStation and some tools were missing but feels there could be more.

"I can't even tell what’s missing and what's damaged yet, ive got to go through stuff because i feel so tossed right now,” said Booher.

Booher says he feels neglected by the city after everything that has happened.

"I feel like I was abandoned by the city they didn't board up my property they didn’t secure it things were stolen and this was hard this is a really difficult time"

Officials from BGE say they can't comment at this time due to the ongoing investigation but sent out a statement saying they are still canvassing Bayard Street and the surrounding area to ensure safe and reliable operations of the gas infrastructure.

The cause of the explosion is also still under investigation.