FORT WORTH -- Neighbors were enjoying a sunny and warm Saturday afternoon when an explosion rang out, sending debris and dust clouds high into the air.

A longtime resident of this working-class neighborhood in southern Fort Worth had just parked at home when the blast ignited. Debris rained down on the car, cracking the windshield. The resident watched in horror as rocks and dirt pounded the roof.

“It scared me. I thought my house blew up,” said the neighbor, who asked not to be identified out of safety concerns.

Unknown to that person at the time, Richard Kelly Page, an admitted crack cocaine user, had tried to blow up a tree stump in his backyard. The November 2016 incident led to his arrest several months later, in August 2017, after police searched his College Avenue home. In it, they found explosive material, bombs with projectiles, a cache of firearms, drugs and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

Government lawyers filed a forfeiture lawsuit on April 13 in connection with Page’s confiscated weapons. Page, 53, is a family man and once successful real estate investor. But the lawsuit and other court records are a reminder that the man next door could also be a gun enthusiast whose house contains machine guns, dozens of other weapons and an array of homemade bombs.

You just never know.

The lawn Page always kept well-manicured is now overgrown, and neighbors said they haven’t seen him around lately. One neighbor thought he’d been out of town for the past week.

Richard Kelly Page (Fort Worth jail)

When a reporter recently tried to speak with Page about the explosion at his home, he angrily shouted “(Expletive) off!” before slamming the door.

Months earlier, police seized more than 90 firearms from the house, including high-powered assault rifles and machine guns. Page also had about a dozen silencers. The U.S. attorney’s office says in the forfeiture lawsuit that some of the firearms violate federal law because they’re registered to a defunct corporation, not a person.

Authorities also recovered four improvised explosive devices containing metal pellets and bolts from Page’s home, as well as 24 pounds of explosives and about 90 detonators. They found crack cocaine, Xanax, marijuana and LSD, along with “numerous items of drug paraphernalia to include syringes, pipes and baggies.”

Page's son, Nicholas Page, 19, told agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that he built the bombs. He was arrested on the same day as his father by Fort Worth police and charged in state court with illegally possessing an explosive weapon. His attorney did not return calls seeking comment.

The elder Page is charged in Tarrant County state court with the illegal possession of cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana.

This is a video posted by Richard Page's Mamba Guns:

The U.S. attorney’s office in Dallas declined to say whether Page could face federal weapons charges. An ATF spokeswoman in Dallas, however, said the agency’s investigation “remains active and ongoing.”

Page’s attorney declined to comment.

Machine guns

Page’s father was a successful real estate man. He followed that path.

He sold pre-owned manufactured homes to people with bad credit. He also bought and sold a variety of real estate properties in Tarrant County, according to court records.

One of Page’s real estate companies was worth $850,000 in 2002, according to court records of his divorce. He still owns a storage facility with his sister in Fort Worth that is worth more than $500,000.

Richard Kelly Page during happier times. (Facebook)

Prior to their divorce, Page and his wife were members of the Colonial Country Club. They drove a BMW and lived in a 4,000-square-foot house with their two children.

Page’s interest in high-powered guns and other military equipment was apparent even back then. He owned four military trucks when the divorce was finalized in 2003, records show. At that point, he had about 20 firearms in his collection.

But he could no longer sell them legally. Page had obtained a federal firearms license in 1998, but his renewal application was denied in 2001, according to Dallas ATF spokeswoman Meredith Davis. She said she could not say why it was denied.

Around 2010, Page started a business called Mamba Guns, which offered people the chance to fire "exotic military weapons from around the world," including belt-fed machine guns. A video uploaded by Mamba Guns shows customers blasting toilets, televisions and household appliances to bits with machine guns at an outdoor range.

A screenshot from Mamba Guns website (Mamba Guns)

“We are a fully automatic gun collector that offers the public a chance to participate in machine gun shoots in Fort Worth and Dallas,” said Mamba’s now-inactive website.

“We utilize our friendships and location to answer the ever growing question, ‘Where can I shoot a machine gun?’ The answer is simple, we bring the machine gun shoot to you on demand at various ranges across the DFW area. Our Machine Gun collection includes AK47s, MP5Ks, and an MG42, just to name a few.”

Page said on the Mamba Guns website that he had been collecting guns since he was 13 and is an expert in “most military weapons.”

It's legal for civilians to own machine guns that are properly registered as long as they were manufactured prior to the 1986 federal ban, and provided that the owner passes extensive background checks.

Some of the guns in Richard Page's collection. (Mamba Guns)

When Page tried to blow up the tree stump in late 2016, he had not been in legal trouble before.

His one-story green house, which he’s owned since at least 1994, has a military ammo box next to the front door for mail. A section of the porch is boarded up with plywood and padlocked.

Michael Page, a Fort Worth businessman, said he hasn’t talked to his brother in about six months. He said he doesn’t think his brother ever tried to be “destructive” with his guns. But Richard’s moods, he said, can vary considerably.

“He can be the nicest guy in the world and then somebody that’s just out of character,” he said.

Michael said he’s never known Richard to harm anyone.

But Richard’s ex-wife alleged during their divorce that he entered her home in 2002 without her permission and put his hands around her throat and tried to strangle her. She said the “physical assault” occurred in the presence of their two children. She could not be reached for comment.

Michael Page said his brother leaned on their parents “quite a bit” for help over the years. That changed when they both died in 2014, he said.

Dust cloud

The 911 calls came in shortly after 1:30 p.m.

Neighbors said they heard “a loud explosion and then saw a dust cloud” coming from Page’s backyard in November 2016, according to a Fort Worth police report. They said it "shook the entire neighborhood," the report said.

The city's arson and bomb squads were dispatched. Fire officials asked Atmos Energy to send someone, thinking it was perhaps a gas explosion.

Page did not allow police into his backyard, forcing them to obtain a search warrant. When they finally went in, officers saw a large crater near a tree stump, according to the police report and the forfeiture lawsuit.

Page’s backyard is on the other side of a parking lot. Across the street from that is a preschool run by Travis Avenue Baptist Church.

A still shot from a Mamba Guns video. (YouTube)

“A length of orange explosive time fuse was found near the crater,” the forfeiture suit said. “It also appeared that bags of unmixed concrete were placed over the explosives due to there being shreds of the concrete bags all over the backyard and on the roof of the house.”

The person who asked not to be named said neighbors knocked on Page's door for more than half an hour after the blast. He eventually opened it and said only that he was “alright” before shutting it.

“He was irritated” by the knocking, said the neighbor. “I’m worried he’ll do it again.”

Page told officers at the time that he and his son had been digging in the yard to try to remove the stump. Unable to determine what happened, police left without taking any action.

But they were back at the house in March 2017 to revive Page with medication for an overdose of heroin, the forfeiture lawsuit said.

Then in July 2017, a tipster called Fort Worth police to report that Page had electric detonators in his attic, according to the suit.

That led police to obtain another search warrant, which was served on Aug. 11, 2017.

‘Pretty stupid’

Page and his son, Nicholas, were at his house when ATF agents and police officers arrived with the search warrant.

Agents placed the more than seven dozen guns on the sidewalk in front of Page’s house, leading some to initially think it was a yard sale.

When questioned by ATF agents, Page denied knowing what happened with the explosion in his backyard. He initially wasn’t eager to talk and became agitated, the forfeiture suit stated. He wanted to know why police were searching his house.

Nicholas Page (Fort Worth jail)

An ATF agent told him it was about the bomb material he was “improperly" storing in his house.

According to the suit, Page told the agent he bought the Kinestik explosives and blasting caps legally "years ago" from an Arlington business that sells explosives for the oil and gas, mining and construction industries.

He at first denied having any “explosive devices” in his house. He later told the ATF agent that his son made the devices but that “they were not made to harm anyone.”

Page also told the agent he had used a 9-volt battery to detonate the bomb in his yard months earlier, according to the forfeiture suit.

“Page stated that he did not see what the problem was and that had he lived out on a ranch, this would be no big deal,” the forfeiture lawsuit said.

The agent told Page he did not live on a ranch.

After his arrest, Page told police that he was a drug user and that “his drug of choice was crack cocaine,” according to the lawsuit. He also told them that his son had blown up a mailbox in Westover Hills, an affluent town west of Fort Worth.

Nicholas Page told officers after his arrest that he made the bombs. He also said his father “is a habitual drug user and has been for a long time,” according to the lawsuit.

At one point, Richard Page asked the lead ATF agent why he told him he’d done some “stupid things.”

The agent said he was referring to Page using explosives in his backyard and storing them in his attic while also using drugs.

“Page then said, ‘Yeah, that was probably all pretty stupid.’”

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