TACOMA, Wash. – Tacoma Police say a woman found dead at the scene of a house fire died of multiple gunshot wounds.
Tacoma police do not think the woman shot herself. The home is now considered a crime scene.
The fire broke out Sunday, and neighbors woke to the sound of an explosion.
Amateur video captured the deadly fire as it flashed orange and red into the night sky.
Next door neighbor Ben Huynh noticed the flames as he returned home around 3:30 a.m. and didn’t hesitate.
“We bust a couple door and scream is anyone in the house and no one is answering," said Huynh.
His younger brother called 911. They say they escorted the longtime owner, a man in his 50s, out of the house, but the man pushed his way back into the flames.
“What he’s saying is his wife, and we rush in again to see if anyone is in the house, and then my brother smells gas and I smell gas," said Huynh.
Firefighters and police arrived. They were able to rescue the man. But the woman neighbors say is his 46-year-old wife died in the fire.
Officers inspected the debris trying to find a trace of a cause.
Tacoma Police say arson investigators have been called to the home as many as four times before, and one fire even leveled the home.
Detectives said they have not had a chance to speak with the owner of the home. He is in serious condition in Harborview's Intensive Care Unit.
Police are not calling the man a suspect in the woman's death.
"Right now he's a seriously injured subject from the fire itself," said Mark Fulghum, a spokesperson for the Tacoma Police Department.
"I can't believe it, I'm just in shock," said neighbor Mary Johnston, after learning the woman had been shot.
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