Decades-old explosives found in Northeast Austin home after investigation

AUSTIN, Texas - The Austin Police Department's Bomb Squad responded to a 911 call from a landlord on Monday. 

The investigation led to the discovery of explosives in the Northeast Austin neighborhood. 

The backstory:

On April 7, around 2:15 p.m., the APD bomb squad responded to the 11900 block of Dove Haven Drive, at the corner of Red Oaks Drive, east of I-35.

"Patrol was called out for some degraded explosives that would have one time been used in mining or construction that would've been legal," said Lt. Elijah Myrick of the Bomb Squad Special Operations. 

The bomb squad determined that the explosives were likely decades old and highly unstable. 

"Over time, those explosives become very dangerous as they degrade and condition," said Lt. Myrick. "So what we have is a large quantity of those. They're not safe to move through the neighborhood." 

"It just happens to be a large quantity of legal explosives, and so we want to make sure we handle those as safely as possible," Myrick added. 

They worked to remove them slowly and carefully. 

"Our bomb technicians go in and deal with this device using either robots or a full-coverage bomb suit with helmet, but ultimately we're going, the residents will probably see smoke, potential flames in the area," said Myrick. 

Neighbors got a text alert around 1:30 p.m. advising them to shelter-in-place, but it was later upgraded to an evacuation. Everyone was told to avoid the area until they safely removed the explosives. 

A photo of a resident's phone, showing the text sent out by APD.

The text reads: "APD IS WORKING AN INCIDENT IN YOUR AREA. PLEASE SHELTER IN PLACE. THERE IS NO THREAT TO THE PUBLIC. THIS IS A SAFETY PRECA…"