‘Like an earthquake but more intense’: South River neighbors describe house explosion
SOUTH RIVER – Authorities are investigating the cause of a house explosion Thursday night that left one man dead and another seriously injured.
Sixty-two-year-old Kevin Gilbert, a retired Newark police officer, was killed in the blast and a second man is at Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center in critical condition, according to the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office.
Authorities responded around 7:03 p.m. Thursday to a 2 ½-story home on Continental Court, a cul-de-sac off Leonardine Avenue, where they found the house completely leveled. Gilbert was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Neighbors were safely evacuated but had not been allowed back in their homes Friday morning, according to Mayor Peter Giundi.
PSE&G was on location quickly and secured the gas, authorioties said.
In a statement, Newark Public Safety Director Fritz G. Fragé offered his deepest condolences to the family and colleagues of Gilbert, who served the Newark Police Division from September 1990 to April 2016.
During his nearly 26-year tenure, Gilbert served in various Newark Police Division units, ranging from the 4th Precinct Detective Bureau to the Robbery Unit and the Safe City Task Force.
"On behalf of the entire Newark Department of Public Safety, Fragé offers prayers of peace and comfort to the loved ones of retired Newark Police Officer Kevin Gilbert. May he forever Rest in Peace," the statement said.
Neighbors described the blast which could be felt in neighboring towns.
Vincent Audain, who was outside of his home in nearby Leonardine Gardens, said it initially didn’t sound like an explosion.
“It just sounded like a really loud bang,” he said. “I thought maybe a truck hit the building. I wasn’t sure what it was. I looked outside and saw everybody coming out. I finally looked at the sky and saw the smoke. It shook the whole house. Almost like an earthquake but more intense, but obviously not as long. I kind of wobbled off my feet for a second.”
His mom, Cherie Audain, was across the street in the laundry room.
“It was a big one,” she said. “It blew us back a bit. Everybody felt it.”
Other residents, who came to the scene Friday morning, but did not want to be identified, agreed.
“I heard a boom, and I really thought it was another earthquake,” said a woman who lives nearby. “We looked outside, and another neighbor was out there. She had just texted me and said did you feel that? Then I heard sirens, but I thought they were coming from Route 18. I didn’t think they were coming from here.”
“I felt like something hit my house,” another resident in the area said. “I thought it was another earthquake.”
Anyone with information is asked to call South River Police Detective Patrick Molina 732-238-1000 or Detective Matthew Colonna of the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office at 732-745-3354.
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Email: sloyer@gannettnj.com
Susan Loyer covers Middlesex County and more for MyCentralJersey.com. To get unlimited access to her work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: South River NJ house explosion kills retired Newark police officer
