Noor Noel Kestou, a resident of Commerce Township and owner of a suburban Detroit business that caught fire and exploded on March 4, resulting in the death of a man named Turner Lee Salter, was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York as he attempted to depart for Hong Kong on a one-way ticket. The fire and explosion occurred at a Clinton Township building that housed a vaping industry distributor called Goo. More than 100,000 vape pens were stored at the site, and authorities mentioned that a delivery of butane canisters had been made to the building just a week before the explosion.
When the explosion occurred, canisters were propelled up to 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) into the air, and over half of the stock was still there when the fire started. One man was hit and killed by a nitrous oxide cannister that was thrown through the air by the explosion while he was about a quarter of a mile (0.40 kilometers) away. Lucido shared that on April 20, they were notified that Kestou was attempting to fly to Hong Kong, but his intentions were unclear.
Kestou is being held in custody at John F. Kennedy International Airport while he awaits an extradition hearing to Michigan on Wednesday. He has been arraigned on an involuntary manslaughter charge in Clinton Township District Court and has been released on $500,000 bond with GPS tethering requirements. A probable cause hearing has been set for May 7 in Clinton Township District Court to determine if there is enough evidence to proceed with further prosecution against Kestou as the primary suspect due to his role as business owner at Goo’s location in Clinton Township where the incident took place.
