Police determine bomb threat in SW Austin was false
Austin police said Tuesday there was no threat to the public and a man was taken into custody after officers determined that a report of a bomb in Southwest Austin was false.
Police Cpl. Jose Mendez said officers responded to the 4800 block of Republic of Texas Boulevard at 12:38 p.m. after a delivery driver called 911 and reported that a man told him he had found what appeared to be a bomb.
Officers spoke to the man at 12:50 p.m., and after he told them he had found a possible explosive device, the Police Department's bomb team was notified, Mendez said. The Austin Fire Department and Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services also responded to the scene.
The area was contained, and a reverse 911 call was made to residents of the area, Mendez said.
The bomb team seized the device from the man and determined that it was not a bomb, Mendez said. He described it as a 7- to 9-inch-long rectangular object with two battery packs attached.
The man was detained by police, though Mendez said shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday that he did not know if the man was still in custody or if he had been released.
No charges have been filed, and an investigation is ongoing, Mendez said. Police were still determining whether the man intentionally made a false report of a bomb or if he believed that the device was a bomb.
The bomb threat came on the sixth anniversary of the 2018 series of bombings in Austin that left two people dead and six injured. The location of Tuesday's bomb threat was about a block from where a tripwire bomb went off on March 18, 2018, in the 4800 block of Dawn Song Drive.
Mendez said it was not clear whether the man who reported the bomb Tuesday was aware of the 2018 bombings.
Under Texas law, making a fake bomb threat is illegal and can be punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $4,000. The penalty goes up if the threat is made against a school, public transportation agency or public utility service.
Federal law also makes it illegal to make, store, distribute, receive or transport any type of explosive with a federal license.