PULLMAN, WA – Investigators believe that a firework shot from a mortar inside the suspect’s apartment started Sunday’s blaze on Pullman’s Military Hill.
According to court documents, Pullman Police believe that 40-year-old Elijah Reagan fired the mortar inside his apartment to start the building on fire.
The firework went through the ceiling and quickly sparked a blaze that damaged six apartments in the building on Larry Street. Investigators also found a TNT dynamite blasting machine plunger box inside Reagan’s apartment.
The court documents show that Reagan called his estranged wife and reportedly told her that he just blew up his apartment because there were bad people after him. She told police that Reagan uses methamphetamine. Officers say that Reagan was smoking meth while he was in an armed standoff with local law enforcement, South of Uniontown, Sunday night.
He eventually surrendered after he accidentally fired a shotgun from his vehicle. Court documents show that Reagan was suicidal and high on meth when he was taken into custody. He was arrested in Idaho and taken to the jail in Lewiston before being extradited to the jail in Colfax.
The standoff occurred after Reagan allegedly led Pullman Police on a high-speed car chase that began on the West edge of town.
The chase ended when a Washington State Patrol Trooper spiked his tires outside Uniontown on U.S. Highway 195. Pullman Police reportedly found lighter fluid, bottle rockets, and fire logs inside his vehicle.
Court documents also reveal that up to 30 people were evacuated from the large apartment building.
An elderly person with a walker needed help from several people to escape the flames. The apartment building that caught fire contains 18 units. Those residents can’t return to their homes until the on-scene investigation is complete. The Red Cross has set up a shelter for those residents at Pullman City Hall.
Regan made his first appearance in Whitman County Superior Court on Tuesday. He faces felony 1st-degree arson and eluding charges. Judge Roger Sandberg agreed with the prosecutor and placed Reagan on a quarter-million-dollar bond. Reagan is scheduled to be arraigned this Friday.
