Brendan McDermid/REUTERS
- New York Police found potential bomb-making material at a home in Astoria, Queens, WNBC reported.
- The discovery came a few hours after firefighters responded to a fire at the home.
- A man was taken to the hospital with burns during that incident.
- The man’s identity has not been released and no charges have been filed yet.
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Police in New York said they found a chemical that could potentially be used to make a bomb in a home in Astoria, Queens, on Tuesday.
The discovery came hours after a man at that address was taken to a hospital with burns on his hands after a fire broke out, WNBC reported.
The New York Fire Department told WABC that 12 units and 60 firefighters responded to the scene. Officials told the outlet that the man was combative when they showed up.
WNBC reported that the man has been arrested in the past for minor offenses and could possibly be emotionally disturbed.
The landlord of the building had asked firefighters to look into boxes in the man’s house, where 40 pounds of potassium nitrate were found, a police source told the outlet.
Potassium nitrate is legal to buy and own and is less powerful than powerful ammonium nitrate. Police are investigating whether the chemical, which can be used to remove tree stumps, was potentially intended for explosives.
Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller told WABC that no actual bomb was found at the scene.
"What we know is we had a fire, we had an emotionally distraught individual who had to be removed to a hospital, we had some chemicals in certain amounts that gave us concern about what they were for and what they could make together, and some written material that we are going to have to go over and figure out what all this means," Miller said.
The identity of the man who was taken to the hospital with burns has not been released nor has he been charged with anything.
Miller is seeking a search warrant to further search the home.