Northeast El Paso residents report loud explosion, houses rattling

Several residents in Northeast El Paso reported a loud 'boom' noise, what they said sounded like a nearby explosion.

ABC-7 investigated the region after receiving emails and phone calls from concerned residents on Thursday morning around 10 a.m.

Residents believed it could've been an explosion at a nearby quarry, but employees at the GCC Materials Site near McKelligon Canyon told ABC-7 that there weren't any controlled explosions on Thursday. They said the last one was on Feb. 4.

El Paso Police and Fire Departments also responded saying they're looking into it.

A spokesperson for Fort Bliss told ABC-7 that there were no nearby training exercises or detonations reported at Castner Range National Monument.

ABC-7 came across El Paso Electric and Water working in the area, but they also did not have any information in regards to the explosion. 

Residents also posted online, saying they felt their homes and windows shaking from the boom.

"This made my whole house shimmer and shake, so it freaked me out," said resident John Aguilar. "But after that, I just could not figure out what it could have been."

Aguilar said he's lived in El Paso for 60 years, he had one idea of what it could've been.

"I've known all about the unexploded ordnance up in the Castner Range and in the mountain areas up there," said Aguilar. "I immediately thought that that was either unexploded ordnance that went off, or perhaps they were doing some kind of training out in the desert with Fort Bliss."

By Transmountain Road are danger zones due to unexploded ammunition underground.

Robert Jeffreys said he's a retired military member and described it sounding like impact from an artillery shell.

"Almost a sonic boom," said Jeffreys.

One other resident shared her camera footage to ABC-7 after the explosion, as well as how she felt the moment it happened. 

"Scared for sure. I was outside and my husband and my youngest were outside, and literally we just heard this boom," said Erica Washington. "And then it like shook and I got up because I was like, 'What the heck was that?'"

Washington said the first thing her husband said was: "Are they bombing us?"

Her brother Brandon Foster lives around the corner, is also a former military member. He was also concerned after hearing the loud 'boom'.

"I really hope they find out what that was, because if it happens again, yeah, there's going to be a lot of angry people," said Foster. "Especially because we didn't know what it was, if someone knew what it was, giving the community maybe a heads up, like if they were doing training or whatever, a heads up would have been nice."