Texas explosions: FBI investigating new blast at FedEx plant

[DeadBall]

US authorities are investigating whether a parcel bomb that exploded at a FedEx depot in Texas on Tuesday is connected to a suspected serial bomber.

The incident occurred at 00:30 (05:30 GMT) in Schertz, 65 miles (104km) south of Austin, where four bombs have killed two people in recent weeks.

One person was lightly injured but did not require treatment, police said.

FBI spokeswoman Michelle Lee told CNN the agency believed the blast could be connected to the four previous attacks.

Local media, citing law enforcement sources, reported that the package that detonated in Schertz was addressed to Austin, and had been packed with metal to create shrapnel.

Three of the four previous devices were hidden in parcels left at residential addresses in Austin. Police said another was probably activated by a tripwire, tripped by two men walking along a street in south-west Austin.

If the explosion in Schertz is linked by law enforcement to the previous four, it will be the first time the bomber has used the mail.

The first device exploded on 2 March, killing Anthony Stephan House, 29, at his home.

Two more bombs exploded 10 days later. Draylen William Mason, 17, was killed and his mother was critically injured when he brought a package inside his home from the doorstep.

Hours later, a 75-year-old Hispanic woman, who has not been named, was injured by another package.

'Serial bomber' suspected in Austin blasts
Investigators initially said that they were looking at a possible racial motivation for the attacks, which had killed two black men and injured a Hispanic woman, but the tripwire device, detonated on Sunday night, appeared to be indiscriminate and injured two white men.

"With this tripwire, this changes things," said Christopher Combs, the special agent in charge of the FBI's San Antonio office.

"It's more sophisticated. It's not targeted to individuals. We're very concerned that with tripwires, a child could be walking down the sidewalk and hit something."

Mr Combs said more than 350 FBI special agents had been drafted in to work on the investigation, calling it an "unprecedented response."

Fred Milanowski, the special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Houston, said the agency had a "high degree of confidence that the same individual built all these devices".

The FBI made a rare public appeal to the bomber to get in touch. "We would really like the bomber to contact us so we can talk to him," Mr Combs said.

Austin police have offered a $100,000 (£71,340) reward for information, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott has offered an additional $15,000.

Residents in Austin, a city of 974,000, have been asked to look out for suspicious packages.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43470397

 

[AssassinatedDevil]

Suspect serial bomber behind spate of deadly Austin attacks is dead after detonating device

Austin police chief Brian Manley said police had tracked the suspect to a hotel near Austin and were following him when he pulled to the side of the road and detonated a device, killing himself.

Mr Manley said the suspect set off a bomb as the SWAT team was closing in.

Two Austin police officers were approaching the vehicle when the suspect set off his device.

One officer fired at the vehicle and the other sustained a minor injury when the bomb went off, Mr Manley said.

The suspected serial bomber — a 24-year-old white male — is believed to be behind the four explosions in Austin in recent weeks.

Investigators had been looking into whether race was a factor in the parcel bombings.

Police had urged residents of the area to treat packages with suspicion during the bombing campaign, and Mr Manley warned residents not to let their guard down yet since investigators were not sure whether the suspect had placed or sent more bombs.

The first of the four explosions was caused by a package bomb that detonated at a north-eastern Austin home on March 2, killing 39-year-old black man Anthony Stephan House.

Two other package bombs exploded further south on March 12. The first killed a 17-year-old and wounded his mother, they were both black, and the second injured a 75-year-old Hispanic woman.

Police believed the second bomb may have been intended for a black family's home, raising the possibility they were a hate crime.

But Mr Manley said investigators still had no clear idea of what prompted the attacks.

"We do not understand what motivated him to do what he did," Mr Manley said.

The fourth blast was a roadside bomb that was triggered by a tripwire — a higher level of sophistication than the previous attacks.

In the first three cases police said the packages did not appear to have gone through the US Postal Service or private carriers like UPS, but were left on doorsteps without a knock or ringing of doorbells.

Police were investigating whether a parcel bombing at a FedEx facility on Tuesday morning (local time) was linked to the four other bombings.

An employee was injured at the facility near San Antonio about 1:00am, while a second unexploded bomb was also found at the same facility.

The homemade bomb was bound for Austin.

Police responded to another explosion in Austin on Tuesday evening (local time) at a goodwill store in the southern part of the city.

Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services tweeted that a man in his 30s was injured but was expected to survive.

It was the sixth explosion in the Austin area since March 2 but police did not believe the latest incident was linked to the other bombings.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-21/texas-bombing-suspect-dead-media-reports/9573664