Man charged with trying to bomb statue in Houston park

Houston Chronicle:
A Houston man has been charged with trying to plant explosives at the statue of Confederate officer Richard Dowling in Hermann Park, federal officials said Monday.

Andrew Schneck, 25, who was released from probation early last year after being convicted in 2015 of storing explosives, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in federal court, Acting U.S. Attorney Abe Martinez said in a statement Monday.

Schneck was arrested Saturday night after a Houston park ranger spotted him kneeling in bushes in front of the Dowling monument in the park, Martinez said.

Schneck was holding two small boxes that included duct tape and wires.

When confronted Saturday night in the park, he tried to drink some of the liquid explosives but spit it out, officials said.

Federal authorities said one of the tubes contained nitgroglycerin and hexamethylene triperoxide diamine, HMTD, a "highly explosive compound" used as a primary explosive. Nitroclycerin, in its purest form, is a contact explosive.

"ln its undiluted form, [nitroglycerin] is one of the world's most powerful explosives," according to the statement.

Schneck was arrested about 11 p.m. Saturday in the park, a source said, following a day of protests that drew hundreds of people to Sam Houston Park protesting a Spirit of the Confederacy statue. The Saturday event also drew counter-protesters.

The details emerged as authorities on Monday evacuated residents near a home owned by Schneck's parents, in a neighborhood six blocks north of Rice University.
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The Park Rangers deserve credit for stopping what could have been a dangerous situation and the rest of law enforcement quickly followed up.

Dowling was an Irish immigrant who came to New Orleans as a nine-year-old after his parents were evicted from their home during the potato famine.  He worked in a saloon there before immigrating to Houston where he established several saloons and other business including the first gaslight company.  He also established Houston's first fire department and was involved in a streetcar business.  During the Civil War, he was commander of a unit that won the second battle of Sabine Pass.  In Houston, he is mostly remembered for his civic activities and has a downtown street named after him.

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