The NYPD Bomb Squad and the FBI are investigating a Queens home containing suspected bomb making materials, police and sources said.
Authorities said they were tipped off to the potential explosives after the home across from Astoria Park on 19th Street erupted in flames about 2 p.m. Tuesday.
The landlord of the house, who lives on the block, stumbled upon the suspicious packages while surveying the fire damage, police said.
He called the FDNY, who passed along the intel to police, sources said.
The man living in the first-floor apartment where the materials were found was acting erratically when police arrived and taken to NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center for observation, police said.
“There [were] materials found that raised some concern,” NYPD Deputy Commissioner John Miller said at a Tuesday night press briefing.
“That included a number of chemicals, a number of packages, a number of books and manuals,” about military explosives and booby traps, said Miller, the department’s head of counter-terrorism.
Police sources said the findings included three bags of suspected ammonium nitrate and wick cords used for fuses.
“There was no assembled device found, at this point,” Miller noted. “But I think the concern would be, the individual chemicals that were found, and what they could combine to make.”
Miller said investigators are awaiting a warrant to complete searching the man’s apartment.
A neighbor, Doros Evangelides, said the man is divorced with a son.
“His shades were always closed,” said Evangelides, 70. “He never took his kid out in the park.”
The discovery created a hectic scene with a large police presence and expansive street closures.
“Due to a police emergency please avoid Astoria Park and the surrounding streets,” NYPD’s 114th Precinct tweeted Tuesday night.
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