Texas police link two of three Austin package bombs

Investigators in Austin, Texas, searched Tuesday for answers behind the string of explosive packages that detonated recently at homes around the city, describing the devices as sophisticated, while struggling to identify who sent them or why.

Authorities have looked at connections between the victims as they investigate the three explosions at three homes, which have killed two people and seriously injured two others. The two people killed in the bombings had connections — both were related to prominent members of the city’s black community and have family members who are close. A third victim had no apparent ties to them and injured by a package addressed to someone else, according to people familiar with the investigation.

The mystery has unnerved Austin, prompting scores of residents to call 911 after seeing potentially suspicious packages, unsettling the city at a time when it is deluged by visitors for the South by Southwest Festival.

People across Austin have called authorities about 150 times between Monday morning and Tuesday morning, Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said during a morning appearance on KXAN-TV. Nothing dangerous was found after any of those calls, he said.

Officials have said they do not see any connection between the bombings and the film festival, but they have warned of the peril caused by the bombs, with Manley saying that whoever is behind the attacks has been able to construct and deliver deadly devices without setting them off at any point in that process.

“When the victims have picked these packages up, they have at that point exploded,” Manley said. “There’s a certain level of skill and sophistication that whoever is doing this has.”

Police have said they are not sure if the devices that detonated had all reached their intended targets.

The most recent package to detonate injured an elderly Hispanic woman who was visiting her mother’s home — but it was addressed to a different home nearby, according to two people familiar with the investigation. The woman who was injured, identified by her relatives as Esperanza Herrera, may have been walking the package over to that address when it detonated, the people said.

The Washington Post could not immediately learn whether the other two packages were addressed to the homes that received them, or whether they had any markings at all. A spokesman for the Austin police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Still, the connection between the two slain victims — a black teenage boy and a black 39-year-old man — has prompted their relatives to wonder whether race or their ties played some role in the bombing.

“Are you trying to say something to prominent African-American families?” said Freddie Dixon, stepfather of Anthony Stephan House, the 39-year-old killed in the first explosion March 2. “I don’t know who they’ve been targeting, but for sure, they went and got one of my best friend’s grandson. Somebody knew the connection.”

Dixon said he is good friends with Norman Mason, whose grandson was the teenager killed in the explosion early Monday. The teenager has not been formally identified by police. Mason’s wife, LaVonne, confirmed that her grandson was the 17-year-old victim but declined to comment further.

Dixon said he used to be the pastor at Wesley United Methodist Church, which the Masons attend, and he and Norman Mason were longtime friends and fraternity brothers. Dixon said he spoke with Norman Mason on Monday, describing him as distraught.

“It’s not just coincidental,” Dixon said. “Somebody’s done their homework on both of us, and they knew what they were doing.”

Police had initially described the March 2 blast that killed House as “suspicious” but likely “an isolated incident” that posed no danger to the community.

But Monday, when two bombs went off hours apart, police said they now believe all three were linked.