Criminal Investigation Opened Around the Explosion at West, Texas Fertilizer Plant

Apartment building damaged in explosion at a nearby fertilizer plant in West, Texas. There are reportedly over 200 casualties so far., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

May 10, 2013

E.M.T. in West, Tex., Faces Charges of Possessing Bomb Parts

By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS and MANNY FERNANDEZ
New York Times

Texas authorities said on Friday that they had opened a criminal investigation into last month’s deadly explosion at a fertilizer plant that killed 14 people and injured some 200 others.

The announcement came hours after a paramedic who responded to the explosion was arrested on a charge of possessing the components of a pipe bomb, though law enforcement officials declined to say whether the charge was related to the blast.

Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said he had directed the Texas Rangers to work with the McLennan County sheriff’s office to conduct the criminal inquiry, which comes more than three weeks after the explosion at the West Fertilizer Company plant outside West, Tex., about 20 miles north of Waco.

“This disaster has severely impacted the community of West, and we want to ensure that no stone goes unturned and that all the facts related to this incident are uncovered,” Mr. McCraw said in a statement on Friday.

Earlier Friday, Bryce Reed, 31, an emergency medical technician who has said he helped evacuate people after the April 17 blast, was taken into federal custody, according to the United States attorney’s office.

Mr. Reed appeared briefly in Federal Court in Waco on Friday but did not enter a plea, the authorities said.

An affadavit sworn out by Douglas J. Kunze, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said that the authorities had found the parts of a pipe bomb, including potassium nitrate powder, which is used in fertilizers and gunpowder. Though Mr. Reed was not in possession of the material, he admitted to having possessed them, according to the affadavit.

Investigators have said the explosion was caused by ammonium nitrate, which was being stored at the fertilizer plant, but have not said whether a fire that preceded the blast had ignited the chemical. Ammonium nitrate, which is commonly used as a fertilizer, is difficult to ignite if handled carefully and properly stored, but it has also been used in a number of terrorist attacks, including the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

The explosion, so powerful that the United States Geological Survey measured it as a 2.1-magnitude earthquake, left a trail of devastation over a wide area.

The Texas fire marshal’s office, which has been investigating the case along with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, has not said whether the fire appeared to have been accidental or intentionally set.

Mr. Reed spoke to various news organizations after the explosion and gave a videotaped eulogy at a memorial service for victims that was attended by President Obama. His Facebook page indicated that he had been criticized for seeking publicity and also pointed to personal problems.

In a posting dated May 7, he referred to Cyrus Reed, a paramedic who died in the explosion, as his brother, because of their close friendship.

“I have not been paid by the media, by press, I made nothing for delivering my brothers eulogy, and made NOTHING off of this tragedy,” Bryce Reed wrote. “I was a shoulder to cry on, I found a GREAT new family, and was blessed to get to tell them about their son. THIS IS NOT ABOUT ME!!! IT IS ABOUT 12 HEROS THAT DIED TO SAVE LIVES!!!!!”

The message continued: “I loved and still love Cyrus A. Reed, and he loved me. I did and will do what I thought was right. Was I emotionally devistated? Hell yes I was. Have your brother die, your town explode, your crew be emotionally wrecked, and in the midst of it have your wife leave you because you are lost in your own emotions: ALL IN THE SAME WEEK, and see how you fare. People I am doing my BEST to hold myself together, but please for the love of God quit picking me apart. I have to bury yet ANOTHER friend tomorrow. God Bless.”

At the April 25 memorial service in Waco, videos in which relatives of the victims recalled the lives of those who died were played for the audience. One of those eulogies was given by a man who identified himself as Cyrus Reed’s brother — later identified as Bryce Reed — and it was one of the most powerful and poetic shown that day. (Members of Cyrus Reed’s family have subsequently said that the two were not related.)

“In death, we focus on the day one was born and the day they pass,” Bryce Reed said. “The only representation of a profound life lived on a marble marker is the dash which resides between the two dates. My brother lived his dash. He lived as a man with a passion and a zeal for life which could not be contained and was contagious to all who knew him. Cy’s dash should extend well past any length that marble could ever contain.”

He added: “My brother would disagree, but I firmly believe that all privy to this incident can attest — that my brother, and all those who lay with him —are heroes now and forever. I would like you all to learn from my brother.”

Ian Urbina and John Schwartz contributed reporting.