WICHITA, KS — One man is in the hospital and his brother in jail, after they blew up a home while celebrating a recent 75,000 lottery win.
In a scene that could have been pulled directly out of a Cheech and Chong movie, two brothers used some of the winnings to buy some meth and weed last Friday night. One of the men was using two large cans of butane lighter fluid in the kitchen to refill butane torches the siblings planned on using with their bongs.
“He emptied a couple of big cans of butane lighter fluid during this, leaking butane into the air,” said Sgt. Bruce Watts. “The butane vapor cloud reach a pilot light in the furnace and as you might expect – kaboom.”
All the news reports keep saying “blew up home” but I haven’t seen any pictures of it, or any reports of specific damages – I used “blow up house” simply because it makes for a good headline.
Police did say there were children in the home at the time of the explosion, but they were not injured. One of the brothers suffered second-degree burns on his hands, arms and chest. The 27-year-old was wearing a new Kansas City Lottery t-shirt when he was brought to the hospital by his girlfriend. He is currently in serious but stable condition.
The girlfriend fled the scene after dropping him off and has not been located. The injured man’s brother also tried to leave the scene, but was arrested on drug charges and taken to jail. According to kslottery.com, the only person to win $75,000 this year was 25-year-old Sonic drive-thru worker, Anthony Amato, who split the winning with his mother.
“I won $75,000 on ticket number 28,” Amato told reporters after winning. “My mom has always said I was lucky.”