SAN ANTONIO — Family members cleaning out the home of a relative who died found something unusual and contacted the the Bexar County Sheriff's Office.
Bexar County Sheriff's deputies responded to a home near Loop 1604 and New Sulphur Springs Road on the far southeast side for reports of "commercial high explosives" found.
The good news is that the family didn't take this discovery into their own hands, instead calling for help. According to Sheriff Javier Salazar, explosive materials were found and experts were called in to help detonate them safely. San Antonio Police Bomb Squad was also on the scene to assist in an eventual "controlled detonation" after evacuating neighbors.
John Ortega, deputy chief of the Bexar County Fire Marshal's Office, said the explosives could have been at least 40 years old.
“Obviously there’s regulation on commercial high explosives, but prior to the federal regulation of high explosives – we’re talking 40, 50 years ago – these items were kind of proliferated out into the public," Ortega said. "Unfortunately, there’s still, a lot of times, high explosives that are found, (but) not very often.”
There was ample preparation prior to conducting the controlled detonation, including shutting down roads and instructing cars two miles away to crack their windows in order to brace for impact.
Bexar County has been in constant communication with the nearby school East Central High School. As that crew anticipated there is no threat to the public after the detonation earlier this afternoon.
The sheriff said he didn't know the exact amount, but it might be close to around 20 pounds. Officials barricaded off about 1000 feet surrounding the home as a containment zone as a precaution.
This is a developing story.
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