Classmate of man accused of trying to bomb Confederate statue: 'It wasn't that surprising'

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Four days after the investigation first began, FBI agents finished removing computer equipment and other evidence from the upscale Southampton home where Andrew Schneck lived with his parents. The large scale investigation began Saturday night, when an alert Houston Park Ranger saw Schneck allegedly trying to blow up a Confederate statue in Hermann Park.

"She did whatever she had to do to stop him from blowing some stuff up, and she just went on about her day like that," said Colby Riley, the brother of Park Ranger Tamara Curtis.

Curtis, who was not allowed to speak by city officials, works the overnight shift for Houston's Parks Department. Hailed as a hero by the Mayor and police chief, it was Curtis who first called authorities.

"I thought it was pretty cool, but you know at the same time I was kind of scared because, that's my sister, my only sister at that, and anything could have happened," said Riley.

Actions by Curtis led to the arrest of Schneck, who authorities say had large amounts of bomb making chemicals inside his family's home. On Monday, dangerous chemicals were blown up during a controlled detonation that caused the neighborhood to be temporarily evacuated.

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"To be perfectly honest it wasn't that surprising," said a high school classmate of Schneck, who didn't want his name published. "If there was someone from our high school that would do that, it wouldn't have been a shock that it was him."

Those who knew the reclusive young man say he has had behavior problems since childhood. His years at Memorial High School in Houston's west side were unremarkable, says the former classmate, except for a senior year manifesto he wrote and brought to class.

"It was kind of talked about that he had written a manifesto or a binder, or a number of pages, describing how the more attractive girls in our grade were not being treated as well as they should be," said the classmate.

The classmate, like others who spoke with Eyewitness News about Schneck, described the now well-known suspect as reclusive and socially awkward.

They remember when Schneck faced similar charges after the FBI raided his family's home back in 2013. That incident also involved explosives, but Schneck was given probation and his parents paid restitution to the government.

"I'm more in shock that someone who had been put on probation by the federal government and fined and everything, still had the wherewithal to do that again," said the classmate.

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