Lubbock police and fire marshals continued to investigate a suspicious death and fire after an elderly man was found dead in a smoke-filled house Thursday afternoon in Central Lubbock.
Police responding about noon to a family member’s request for a welfare check on the man discovered him dead in one room and a fire-damaged bedroom in another portion of the house in the 3400 block of 56th Street, said Robert Loveless, assistant fire marshal in the Lubbock Fire Marshal’s Office.
Loveless and police would not release the man’s name but said he was in his 70s.
Investigators were waiting for the medical examiner to determine the man’s cause of death, Loveless said, adding it wasn’t clear if the man died as a result of the fire or something else.
Nothing stood out to lead investigators to believe foul play was involved, Loveless said.
“But I don’t think anything, at this point, has been ruled out,” he said.
It also was unclear when or how the fire started in the room, which was behind a closed door when police arrived, he said.
But the blaze was out, likely self-extinguished, and the room was cold when police arrived, Loveless said, leading the Fire Marshal’s Office to believe the fire was out at least 24 hours before noon Thursday. Smoke lingered through much of the house when police arrived.
The Fire Department was not called to fight a structure fire at the house recently, Loveless said.
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