Fatal pipe bombs at homes rattle Austin
Police warn residents about boxes on doorsteps in wake of 3 attacks
AUSTIN — Pipe bombs hidden inside packages left at two separate Austin houses killed a teenage boy and seriously injured two women within hours Monday morning, spurring an investigation by Austin police who believe the attacks are linked to an earlier attack and may be racially motivated.
The first box detonated Monday in the Springdale Hills neighborhood of east Austin, after the teenager brought it from the front porch into the kitchen to open it. The 17-year-old was killed and a woman in her 40s was injured, police said.
Five hours later, as police were investigating the first explosion, another blast occurred at a home about 5 miles southeast in the Montopolis neighborhood near the airport. A 75-year-old woman sustained life-threatening injuries after she picked up a package left at her front door.
The explosions appeared similar to an explosion on March 2 that killed a 39-year-old northeast Austin man. In each case, the explosions came in the early morning hours from boxes left on front doorsteps. None was delivered by a mail service, police said.
“We are looking at these incidents as being related based on similarities that we have seen in the initial evidence that we have on hand here today, compared to what we found on the scene of the explosion that took place a week back,” Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said.
The explosions Monday come as tens of thousands of people have descended on the state’s capital for the annual South by Southwest conference and festival. The explosions did not occur near any of the SXSW events.
Manley said investigators are working to determine if the bombings were hate crimes because the victims in the early morning explosion and the one a week ago were black. The third victim was Hispanic. Two law enforcement sources said all three explosions were caused by pipe bombs.
“We don't know what the motive behind these may be,” Manley said. “We do know that both of the homes that were the recipients of these packages belong to African-Americans, so we cannot rule out that hate crime is at the core of this. But we're not saying that that's the cause as well.”
$15,000 reward offered
Austin police warned residents to immediately report any suspicious packages and not to touch or try to move them. Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo offered similar warnings to Houstonians.
“What can happen there can happen here, and it’s a moment we can all learn from: Be suspicious of things you don’t expect in the mail,” he said.
Acevedo, the former police chief in Austin, said he had spoken with Manley and offered the support of the Houston Police Department.
“It breaks your heart that you see people getting killed by a cowardly act, somebody so callous they would send a package with explosive devices in it,” he said.
In response to the bombings, federal law enforcement officials from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives joined the investigation, moving in from Houston, San Antonio and Dallas.
“We’re aware of the explosions, we’re present and we’re assisting APD,” said Rosanne Hughes, spokeswoman for the FBI’s San Antonio Field Office.
Nicole Strong, an ATF spokeswoman, said agents from the bureau’s National Response Team were also on their way to Austin, bringing experience in fire origin and cause, forensic chemistry, explosives, fire protection and fire accelerants. The team responded to the 2001 terrorist attack on the Pentagon and such high-profile bombings as the 1996 blast at the Olympics in Atlanta.
Gov. Greg Abbott said his office is offering a $15,000 reward for information leading to the identification and arrest of anyone involved in the incidents.
“I want to assure all Texans, and especially those in Austin, that local, state and federal law enforcement officials are working diligently to find those responsible for these heinous crimes,” Abbott said in a statement. “As the investigation continues, the State of Texas will provide any resources necessary to ensure the safety of our citizens, and quickly bring those guilty to justice.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, like Abbott, called on all residents in the state to be cautious.
“Call 9-1-1 immediately if you receive something suspicious,” he said on Twitter.
‘We want the answers’
Concerns among Austin residents grew by the hour.
“It could have easily happened in our home,” said Corazon Renteria, whose son went to school with the teenaged victim killed in the first bomb in East Austin. She later heard the bomb go off at the second home in the Montopolis neighborhood near the airport but thought a gas stove had exploded.
“We want the answers,” she said. “Why these people? Why that home?”
Answers were few Monday, but officials said they were working to track down whoever is responsible.
“We do not have a specific victimology or ideology that we have identified, so assigning a motive to this at this point, we’re not able to do that at the stage we’re at in the investigation,” Manley said. “If you know anything about these attacks, it's imperative you come forward and let us know.”
Neighbor Brandon Rendon was making breakfast with his family Monday morning when he heard the explosion go off four houses down the street.
“I don't feel safe,” said Rendon, a 27-year-old contractor, as he stood on a neighbor’s lawn outside the police tape that blocked off his street. “It just feels overwhelming.”
Michael Booker, 76, who lives about a block away from the house where the first blast occurred Monday, said he didn’t find out about the explosion until a friend called to check on him. After learning of the second blast, he questioned what was happening.
“What are they trying to do, send us a message?” he asked.
Booker said the neighborhood is extremely quiet and predominately black but that homes have been selling quickly and more white families are moving in. It’s safe and neighbors know one another, he said.
A few houses down, Lamont Tucker, 45, said he was “pretty concerned.”
“A lot of us have lived here 40plus years. We’ve never heard of such a thing,” Tucker said. “I am not trying to live my life scared of everything, but it’s shocking.”
At the scene of the third explosion, Isaiah Guerrero, 15, said he heard an explosion after 11 a.m. just one street over.
“It shook my house and my body,” said Guerrero, who is on spring break from school.
Neighbors said the 75-yearold victim lived at the home as a caretaker for her mother, whom children on the street affectionately called abuela, or grandmother. The neighborhood is largely Latino, filled mostly with older residents or multigenerational families who have owned homes there for years.
Ongoing concerns
Officials made efforts to reassure the revelers at South by Southwest, a popular event that draws celebrities and others from across the country.
“It’s important for those who are here in Austin to be aware of what’s going on,” said Manley, adding that conference visitors should “have fun” while they’re in Austin. “There is no reason to believe you are at greater risk.”
Civil rights advocates said they were monitoring the developments Monday and had been in touch with authorities, but were waiting for more information.
“We’re very concerned, based on what has happened, but we’re upset about all human life at this point and until we know something more specific,” said Nelson Linder, with the Austin chapter of the NAACP. “But of course the fact that it appears two African-Americans so far were targeted is a major concern.”