Bomb technicians discovered TATP and MEKP, both highly combustible explosives, at the residence on Vintage Stave Road.
AUSTIN, Texas — An affidavit revealed additional details on what led to an explosive being detonated at a South Austin home earlier this week.
City leaders gathered Thursday to provide an update after the Austin Police Department (APD) detonated explosive materials inside a South Austin home Wednesday. One person is in custody in connection with the materials.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson stressed at the press conference that Wednesday’s detonation was not related in any way to the home explosion in northwest Austin on Sunday.
As for the South Austin incident, APD Chief Lisa Davis said on Tuesday, a concerned citizen called police about potential bomb material in a home on Vintage Stave Road. Patrol officers responded and immediately called the department’s bomb technicians.
Once those technicians arrived, Davis said investigative processes began, from obtaining a search warrant to getting people out of the house. Davis said the suspect, identified as 66-year-old Steven Aldrich, was immediately taken into custody.
What the affidavit revealed
According to an affidavit KVUE obtained on Friday, Austin police received a call at around 3 p.m. Tuesday from a person reporting that their brother, identified as Aldrich, was making explosives at the residence located on Vintage Stave Road.
The caller stated that they were concerned, since their 95-year-old mother lived at the residence and Aldrich had previously blown his hand off and went to prison in Williamson County.
Upon arrival, an APD Bomb Squad corporal spoke with Aldrich’s mother, who told investigators that Aldrich made “science experiments inside of the house.”
Aldrich then spoke with the same corporal and told him that he had prior experience manufacturing Triacetone Triperoxide, or TATP, which is a highly combustible homemade explosive. He further went on to say that he had disposed of TATP at another property, and made statements that indicated to investigators that there were ingredients to make TATP inside the Vintage Stave residence.
Corporals were given consent to search the property by Aldrich’s mother, who owned the residence. During the search, members of the APD Bomb Squad observed numerous chemicals, including a white crystalline substance that resembled TATP. They also found chemicals that are known ingredients used to make TATP.
Bomb squad technicians also discovered various containers and equipment around the house used for manufacturing and storing TATP.
Aldrich was arrested and subsequently booked into the Travis County Jail on a third-degree felony charge of possessing components of explosives.
In addition to TATP, technicians also discovered Methyl Ethyl Ketone Peroxide, or MEKP, which is also a highly combustible explosive. The affidavit states that on April 16, APD Bomb Squad, ATF and FBI bomb technicians removed as much dangerous material as possible, but concluded that there was no safe way to remove the MEKP safely.
The destruction of the MEKP was what led to Wednesday’s explosion.
Who is Steven Aldrich?
Aldrich was arrested and subsequently booked into the Travis County Jail on a third-degree felony charge of possessing “components of explosives.”
Records show Aldrich had a previous explosives-related arrest in Williamson County, for which he was sentenced to six years of confinement in 2019. He was released on parole in August 2022 and had two weeks of parole remaining for that offense.
“Our SWAT team and our EOD [bomb squad] is familiar with him and his bomb-making shenanigans from the past,” Chief Davis said Thursday.
Davis said no additional details about this incident will be released at this time, as the investigation is ongoing.
“The entire incident could have ended in a much worse scenario,” Davis said. “I’m very thankful and I’m very proud of our EOD [Explosive Ordinance Disposal] and all of our federal partners here that no lives were lost and that no one was injured.”