EXPLOSION
festival, and police have not identified a suspect or given a possible motive as federal officials joined the investigation.
“We are not ruling anything out at this point,” Police Chief Brian Manley said at a televised news conference. “We’re imploring the community, if you know anything about these attacks, it is imperative that you come forward and let us know. We have innocent people getting hurt across this community.”
Before 7 a.m. Monday, residents at one home in east Austin found a mysterious package on their doorstep and brought it inside, Manley said.
When they began opening the package in their kitchen, the package exploded, killing a 17-year-old boy and injuring a woman who was taken the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Manley said.
Several hours later, shortly before noon and about five miles to the south, a 75-year-old woman found a similar mysterious package on her porch. “She picked up the package, and at that point, the explosion, the box detonated,” Manley said.
The day’s second bombing happened so soon after the morning’s first explosion that some officials went directly from one bombing site to another, Manley said. The elderly woman was in critical condition Monday afternoon with life-threatening injuries.
The two bombings came a little more than a week after a northeast Austin resident, Anthony Stephan House, 39, was killed in a “very similar” package bombing early in the morning, Manley said.
Police had initially deemed House’s death “suspicious” — saying it couldn’t be ruled out that he had assembled the package himself — but on Monday reclassified his death as a homicide.
The “average-sized” packages don’t appear to have been sent through traditional delivery services such as the U.S. Postal Service or UPS, and were left without ringing the bell, said Manley, who declined to give details about the devices but suggested they came in cardboard boxes.
“These devices can explode in many ways, either by being moved or being opened,” Manley said, also cautioning that the bombs “can be hidden in many different ways. … There is a certain level of skill required to put a device like this together successfully.”
Manley suggested that residents call 911 if they find a suspicious package and to leave their homes or wait in the rear until officials arrive.
“We will respond,” Manley said. “It may take a little while to get there because we are getting several calls.”
The victims of the first two bombings were black, raising fears early Monday that the Austinites were targeted because of their race, but a Latina was the victim of the third bombing, after which police declined to speculate on a possible pattern.
“We have no specific ideology or victimology behind this, and it will remain an ongoing investigation while we pursue any and every lead,” Manley said.
“We do not know yet whether the victims are the intended targets,” Manley said, adding that some homes had multiple residents and that the bomber also may have targeted the wrong addresses.