Law enforcement officials in Texas are launching a criminal investigation into last month’s deadly fertiliser plant explosion which killed 14 people and injured 200 others.
The Texas Department of Public Safety however said in a statement on Friday that the agency has instructed the Texas Rangers and the McLennan County Sheriff’s Department to launch a criminal probe into the explosion earlier treated as an industrial accident in the northern rural town of Waco.
DPS Director Steven McCraw says in a statement he wants to ensure “no stone goes unturned” in the investigation.
The plant blew up on the night of April 17 after a fire erupted at the facility.
Meanwhile, a paramedic in West Texas has been arrested for possession of an explosive device, a federal official said on Friday, but it was not immediately clear whether there was a connection to the fertiliser plant blast.
The man arrested was Bryce Reed, said Franceska Perot, a spokeswoman for the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
A source familiar with the matter said it was not clear that the arrest was linked to the blast at West Fertiliser Co.
