Tear gas canister started duplex fire during standoff, investigators find

A tear gas canister police fired into a residnece during a July 12 standoff started a fire that burned the home, according to fire investigators.

Idaho State Fire Marshal Mark Aamodt said in a report released late Wednesday that a gas projectile apparently lit a couch in the living room on fire.

The fire spread quickly.

Firefighters went inside and found the body of 24-year-old Nicolas C. Castanon in the bathroom.

Kootenai County Coroner Robert West previously said that Castanon used a dog leash to hang himself from a shower enclosure in the bathroom sometime before the fire started.

Police had gone to the duplex at 1517 E. Satre Ave. the evening of July 11 to arrest Castanon on a warrant out of California. He was also a suspect in a June stabbing outside a Coeur d’Alene bikini bar, according to police.

Castanon refused to come out. After several hours, tear gas was fired into the home in an attempt to force him.

Idaho State Police Officer George Phillips told Aamodt he fired four tear gas rounds into the duplex. Phillips said he saw a flicker after the third round was fired into the living room.

He saw flames after firing the final round, Phillips said.

Idaho State Police Capt. Clark Rollins said in an earlier press release that gas canisters and grenades had been used in similar situations and never resulted in a fire.

“We have never had one be flammable in the past,” he said. “They are not designed to ignite.”