East Austin bunker under home

[A-R]

Point 1: He did indeed violate building codes. I am sure that digging a 2 to 3 story hole under your house in a residential neighborhood is a violation. In my mind if he was living up on Ruby Ridge with his nearest neighbor being in the next county, it wouldn't be anyones business let alone a code violation.

Point 2: He might have violated hazardous material storage regulations.

Point 3: The Police are storing his weapons while he is unable to enter his residence, and did not confiscate them.

We can all feel free to speculate about the implications of the above points, but as the story currently stands I don't see what the issue really is.

PH: I understand your points, and might agree with them, except that you're speculating just as much as everyone else. The paper ran a large centerpiece spread on the Metro & State front page this morning with photos of the bunker. So some of what I'm mentioning here may be from this newer updated version of story http://www.statesman.com/news/local/off ... 95942.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

1.

Martinez said Del Rio, a Vietnam-era veteran, has not been charged with any code violations.

Maybe they're just waiting to file those charges, maybe not. I honestly don't know all of the city of Austin's building codes, nor which codes are grandfathered for older properties, and I work in real estate.

2. Will have to wait and see what TCEQ says

3. Does he have access to these weapons? Can he have a friend who is legally authorized to possess firearms come pick them up from the police station and store them privately for him? Can he pick up he weapons and store them in a public storage unit under lock and key? As I said above, it's awfully nice of APD to offer to store this man's guns for him but if they're charging him with no crime and he asks that the guns be returned to him for storage elsewhere, WILL THEY DO SO?

Austin police said Tuesday that Del Rio is not the subject of a criminal investigation. Austin police Cpl. Scott Perry said the department is storing a number of Del Rio's legal firearms while he is unable to re-enter his home. "We didn't confiscate anything," Perry said.

I agree your assumptions sound reasonable, but what would have also been reasonable is for the reporter to ask questions rather than just regurgitate the police talking points. I agree there is probably more to this, but this is subpar journalism (and I'm being nice in that assessment). If I was this guy's editor (a role I have played in the past) I would NOT have run this story without getting answers (or at least "no comment" on the record from officials about at least this one all-important question (the answer to which will likely lead to more questions that must be answered before running the story):

If he hasn't violated codes and he hasn't committed a crime nor is he the subject of an investigation then what gives officials the legal authority to do any of this?

This reporter and this newspaper need to do their jobs MUCH BETTER than this.

[A-R]

Any word if has ties with radical extremist groups - sounds like the MO of the CSA guys I've read about.

CSA???

[A-R]

I still don't see why code enforcement officials were there in the first place. I also missed where it said this guy was mentally deficient in any way.

From the updated story his morning .... appears a neighbor or busybody called in a complaint. Reading between the lines, code compliance official probably freaked when they saw a multi-level underground bunker with grenades and firearms and called police SWAT. Now that the city has spend so much money with such an aggressive response, they have to play this out (even though there so far are no code violations or criminal investigations). Either they'll charge him with something or 6 months later they'll issue a two sentence press release on a Friday afternoon at 4:59 pm saying "case closed".

Officials said retiree Jose Del Rio, 70, built the multilevel structure below his home at 2006 Canterbury St. Two weeks ago, code officials visited the house after receiving a complaint, officials said.

A police SWAT team, bomb squad, and fire search and rescue team later searched the home for more than four hours, yielding weapons, inert grenades and empty 55-gallon barrels.

Martinez said Del Rio, a Vietnam-era veteran, has not been charged with any code violations.

Officials have not determined whether the city or Del Rio would be responsible for remediating the hole.

Austin police said Tuesday that Del Rio is not the subject of a criminal investigation. Austin police Cpl. Scott Perry said the department is storing a number of Del Rio's legal firearms while he is unable to re-enter his home. "We didn't confiscate anything," Perry said.

[Purplehood]

AustinRealtor,

Almost everything that I post is pure speculation. Maybe I should work on Wall Street!

[O6nop]

There's even a link on Drudgereport now and it takes you to a KVUE article.

Multiple city agencies are involved in the matter. Still unclear is what charges or fines Del Rio could face, as well as how soon he might be able to return to his home.

Another article appears here.

According to the report, investigators seized ammunition and 19 guns from under Jose Del Rio’s house.

This is some of the worst reporting I've seen in a long time. They leave it just questionable enough to make him look like a nut. Maybe he is, I don't know.

[puma guy]

Austin is going to have to raid all the caves in the area! It's unsafe to have below ground voids apparently. This poor guy is going to have to stand by with out a home, with his property confiscated.... oh stored that is..... until they can figure some way to arrest, or cite him. Note that the city's "engineer" was mentioned in the part about filling in the bunker. The "engineer" in my city who's responsible for condemning property used to be the dog catcher. Hopefully Mr. Del Rio can get some legal assistance and an engineer of his own.

[RPBrown]

Makes my tornado shelter illigal?

[Fangs]

If this man had given them the, "I mean you no harm, but God have mercy on the first several guys through my door," response when the SWAT team came knocking, they would have been in a decent amount of trouble. The fact that it didn't play out that way tends to make me think he isn't crazy/paranoid, or they caught him off guard.

[chabouk]

So... in essence, the guy gets his home and property seized for digging a hole in his yard.

I feel so much safer now.

[LarryH]

Can he pick up his weapons and store them in a public storage unit under lock and key? As I said above, it's awfully nice of APD to offer to store this man's guns for him but if they're charging him with no crime and he asks that the guns be returned to him for storage elsewhere, WILL THEY DO SO?

AFAIK, most public storage facilities have rules against storing guns, ammo or explosives (even to including motorcycles, etc., with gasoline in the tanks) in their facilities.

[RPB]

He is staying with relatives, maybe they didn't have room in their garage for his empty barrels, batteries and guns, but he should get them all back if the city decides to store them while they help him be sure the new celler/basement addition is structurally sound.

Perhaps there's a home improvement/urban renewal block grant type grant from some agency they'll put him in contact with so the poor 70 year old guy doesn't have to do all the work himself.
Lubbock and lots of ities has those programs and help some people fix up their homes for better energy effeciency etc. Basements need less air conditioning because it's cooler down there in the Summer.

Makes my tornado shelter illigal?

You dont have any hazardous batteries for a weather radio in it do you?

[Rex B]

Sounds like a nonconformist. A socialist society cannot abide that.
Off with his head.

[gigag04]

Any word if has ties with radical extremist groups - sounds like the MO of the CSA guys I've read about.

CSA???

Covenant Sword and Arm of the Lord. They've bumped heads with HRT on more than a few occasions.

[74novaman]

Man digs giant hole under house.
Houses collapses.
Man in house.
Emergency response team arrives at seen.
Emergency response team and general public lives put at risk because of lame brain idea electrical fire/gas leaks/building collapse.

I see the where the city is coming from.

The problem I think most of us see with the article is that they're emphasizing the 'the crazy man had guns' part of the story and not 'the retiree thinks he's a mole' part of the story.

[74novaman]

They now have pictures of the man's "bunker"
http://www.kvue.com/news/local/Inside-l ... 00924.html