Residue of Texas City fatal blast detonated
TEXAS CITY -- Authorities ordered two apartment complexes evacuated and set off a small explosion inside a unit today in an attempt to remove a substance believed to have caused a fatal blast Wednesday.
In a news conference today, federal and local officials said they believe the substance was peroxide-based.
The explosion Wednesday at the Lakeview complex in the 8000 block of the Emmett F. Lowry Expressway killed a man officials identified as Matthew Rugo, 21.
A second man who survived the blast, Curtis Jetton, has been charged with making a false police report and is being held on $10,000 bond, according to Texas City Police Chief Robert Burby.
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Members of the Galveston County Sheriff's Office were assisting in the evacuations. As authorities prepared to detonate the substances inside the apartment , FBI Special Agent Kasey Salway said he expected the blast would cause cause a minimum amount of damage.
But he added: 'This stuff is extremely sensitive to heat, shock and friction...We can't identify exactly what this stuff is.' He declined comment on the nature of the investigation.
The FBI refused to say whether it believes the men were preparing some kind of attack.
But Texas City Mayor Matt Doyle said: 'If we thought this was a terrorist act, the action would be a lot different than we've seen here today. Certainly, the FBI would have raised the level of security inside the city.''
Any time I see a headline involving an explosion in Texas City I inevitably think of the famous explosion there almost sixty years ago. [Wikipedia] I wasn't around yet, but the explosion was still fresh in the minds of many when I was a kid growing up in Houston, and my mother—a native Houstonian—had a couple of stories about friends and relatives of hers who happened to be nearby at the time.
It's telling that the FBI won't talk about what lines they're pursuing in the investigation, but for right now my guess is that these guys are/were just a couple of dumbasses.
