BASF guard shot Freeport, Texas Chemical Plant Complex

The Facts online newspaper ^ | 1-24-2004 | Staff Reports

[buffyt]

FREEPORT — Police were looking for a man Friday night who they said shot a BASF security guard at the perimeter of the plant near FM 1495 and Highway 36.

Freeport Police Chief Henrietta Gonzalez said the guard approached a suspicious truck about 9:20 p.m. and the man inside said he had been taking pictures. He then shot the guard in the shoulder area, Gonzalez said.

“He was shot at point-blank range,” said Detective Sgt. Sue Dietrich. “You could see the powder burns.”

Police did not release the guard’s name, but said he was doing well at Brazosport Memorial Hospital late Friday night.

The guard told police the shooter was a man of Middle-Eastern descent with bushy hair and a mustache, and had been driving a white pickup with tinted windows and a black stripe. The truck did not have a front license plate, according to police radio reports.

BASF spokeswoman Sharon Rogers said there is no indication the shooting is linked to terrorism.

“There is nothing for us to indicate anything other than there is a shooting that happened on our property,” Rogers said. “We’ll just have to see what the investigation will reveal.”

Rogers said the security guard was employeed by Munday Corp., which provides the plant’s security force.

The culprit left the scene just after the shooting and did not get inside the plant gates, police said.

As of 10:30 p.m., Dietrich said the incident was not being investigated as an attempted terrorist attack.

FBI officials in Houston confirmed they had been notified of the incident but would not comment further.

The guard had been patrolling the perimeter of the plant, outside the gate and near a water tower, but in view of the plant’s ammonia tank. There was no access road or gate into the plant from the site of the shooting.

The wounded guard managed to drive down FM 1495 to the nearest plant gate, where an off-duty sheriff’s deputy working security at the plant called police.

The truck was last seen heading west on Highway 36, according to police radio reports.

[eastforker]

yup, about 30 miles.

[milemark]

30 miles from the host city of the Super Bowl + middle eastern looking + taking pics of chem tanks + shot the guard when questioned = no evidence of terrorism.

[ravingnutter]

I am surprised you did not connect the dots...an article you posted in May of last year...

FREEPORT — Port officials are looking into reports that al-Qaeda scouts may have sojourned into Freeport before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

A story in the May 26 issue of Newsweek reported that in March 2001, the scouts came to Texas to “case a major port in Freeport, Texas,” as well as look at President Bush’s ranch in Crawford. The information came from the FBI, according to the story.

“We’re seeing what that might mean,” said Pete Reixach, executive director of Port Freeport.

“We’re trying to qualify the language in this article with the FBI and Homeland Security offices.”

Port security was high Tuesday, Reixach said, but it was not because of the report.

The nationwide terror alert level was raised from yellow to orange, so the security was heightened to the level it was at the start of the war in Iraq, he said.

The possibility that terrorists were in the port’s back yard is somewhat sobering, Reixach said, but it only reinforces a trend toward heightened security after the terrorist attacks.

“We’ve all been in a state of alert since shortly after Sept. 11,” Reixach said.

“Our operations have increased their activities tenfold since then.”

The port also has received federal grants to enhance its security since the attacks.

Tobey Davenport, chairman of the port’s board of commissioners, said he was surprised by the report. While a fueling ship could be a possible target, Davenport said, there is little else in the port’s jurisdiction that could cause mass devastation if attacked.

“All we have on the navigation district property is warehouses,” Davenport said. “We have a rice mill and freezers full of bananas. What are they going to blow up?”

Of course, the “major port in Freeport” could include much more than just district property, Davenport said. It could include waterfront sites that are not port-owned, such as facilities owned by ConocoPhillips, Dow Chemical Co. and BASF, he said. Ammonia tanks could be a much more attractive target than bananas, Davenport said.

Like Reixach, BASF officials said the report only renews their commitment to securing their sites. “Security and safety of our employees and neighbors in the community are our highest priority,” said Jonathan Evans, a BASF spokesperson in New Jersey. “We have taken steps to address emerging security issues at our sites, and we continue to work closely with government and industry partners to address this important issue.”

Al-Qaeda Scouts visited Freeport Texas

[Lee'sGhost]

"30 miles from the host city of the Super Bowl + middle eastern looking + taking pics of chem tanks + shot the guard when questioned = no evidence of terrorism."

My thoughts exactly. What a load of crap. This may end up being something other than a BT incident, but I'd be willing to put money on a bet that says it is.

[TheMom]

My mother lives a few miles from Freeport (she is actually close to where this happened). It is 63 miles from my house to hers - takes a little over an hour to get there.

It would take approximately the same amount of time to get to Reliant Stadium from Freeport (one hour).

[txeagle]

KHOU/Channel 11 briefly reported on the 6 o'clock news that the FBI is now convinced that the guard shot himself and fabricated the story to cover himself.

I bet my wife this was the case.

She owes me.

[mylife]

The powder burns were suspicious...Ballistic should tell the story

[38special]

Surfside Beach Cam

[Danette]

My husband works at an anyhdrous ammonia plant here in ___________. They got an alert today because of Freeport, Tx.

If they bombed that plant, it would be a huge disaster. Only way to save yourself is to be able to hold your breath under water until the cloud passes.

It's dangerous stuff.

As to the "security guards" at these plants. All they do here is monitor alarms and are supposed to walk the whole plant once an hour. They are paid minimum wage and are most often older, retired, and disabled persons. I'll tell you right now.....most sleep the whole night without moving a muscle. Oh yeah, only one guard per shift, by themselves, NO ONE ELSE. It's a joke.

The terminal operators make excellent $$$$, but they generally only work normal hours/weekends off until their "busy" season in the spring and fall. Anyhdrous ammonia is used for crops.....and meth labs for you druggies out there.

I know my husband's plant is having great difficulty because of the high natural gas prices. A shut-down wouldn't surprise us at all.

[deport]

Drugs or ..........

KHOU-TV
Robert House goes home from
the hospital Monday afternoon. Security guard wounded outside chemical plant tells his story

05:48 PM CST on Monday, January 26, 2004

By Jason Whitely / 11 News

The security guard whose shooting at the BASF ammonia plant this weekend in Freeport that set off questions about terrorism is telling his story to 11 News.

As Robert House left the hospital the mystery of what happened to him has only deepened. "Gentleman was pointing a pistol towards my chest," he says. "I turned a little bit trying to tell him, 'No, no don't shoot me,' when he shot me."

The shooting happened in a muddy lot outside a Freeport chemical plant Saturday.

House was working security when he said he noticed the suspect sitting in a white pick-up truck taking pictures of the lights around the facility.

Hours after House took a bullet in the shoulder FBI agents showed up in his hospital room to give him a lie-detector test. "The test was telling him that I shot myself," says House. "And I told him that I didn't and he said that he could see it in my eyes that I was crying out for some type of help."

So 11 News then asked the Freeport police chief if this case now seems fishy. "I'm not going to answer that," says Chief Henrietta Gonzalez.

Investigators say that House does not have a criminal record. And police are still investigating his initial story. "Sure, we're believing what he says at this time," says Gonzalez. "And we're following up with what he told us."

Five years ago the shooting of a security guard outside of a chemical plant probably wouldn't have even made news, but House's allegation in this post 9-11 environment has attracted a lot of attention.

Freeport police are working closely with the Texas Department of Public Safety and the FBI in an attempt to get to the bottom of this.

House is back at home and has hired an attorney. He wouldn't say when he would return to work, and wouldn't answer specific questions.

The FBI maintains that the shooting does not have any connection to terrorism.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Hours after House took a bullet in the shoulder FBI agents showed up in his hospital room to give him a lie-detector test. "The test was telling him that I shot myself," says House. "And I told him that I didn't and he said that he could see it in my eyes that I was crying out for some type of help."

Polygraph = voodoo snake oil

[Dog Gone]

Wouldn't the FBI test his palms to see if he shot himself?

This story is getting bizarre.

[TheMom]

House is back at home and has hired an attorney.

Why do people always hire an attorney???

[deport]

Why do people always hire an attorney???

---

We could speculate but that's about all it would be at this stage..... much like this entire story, we don't have enough info to know what really went down out there that night about 9pm....

[txtiger]

BASF manufactures a number of things at this facility, including Nylon 6, acrylic acid, and I believe acetic acid. The ammonia is brought in by barge and pipeline, but is not manufactured there.