Authorities probe blast outside church in Beaumont
No one hurt after package detonated in front of building
BEAUMONT — Beaumont police and federal officials are investigating an explosion that damaged a church when a package detonated late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.
BPD Chief Jim Singletary declined to comment on the contents of the device or a possible motive.
Singletary said Beaumont police responded to a call to St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church on Delaware Street at 9:18 a.m. Thursday.
When officers arrived, they found a package that had already detonated, he said.
The Episcopal Diocese of Texas said in a statement Thursday afternoon that the blast “broke out windows, put holes in the office walls and blew apart the bushes lining the entrance.”
Singletary said the damage was “minor.” He declined to confirm the diocese’s statement.
The church shares a campus with All Saints Episcopal School, which was not affected by the blast.
The package detonated sometime after the church’s Wednesday evening service and before school started on Thursday, the Diocese said.
Wednesday night worship starts at 5:30, according to the church’s website, and school starts at 8 a.m., according to the All Saints Family Handbook.
A neighbor who lives across the street from the church office said he heard a loud noise about 2 a.m., and he thought someone had run into one of his cars in the driveway.
He came outside to check but saw nothing, he said.
Singletary confirmed that police received “several reports” from people who heard something overnight, but he declined to say when the noise was reported.
No one was on the campus when the package detonated, the Rev. Steven M. Balke Jr. said in a letter to the church community posted online.
Beaumont police are investigating the incident with the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Officials from both federal agencies were walking through the parking lot on the west side of the building and leaving white markers on the ground late Thursday afternoon. Some damage to a window on that side of the building was visible from the road.
The All Saints campus was on lockdown briefly Thursday morning after the package was discovered, and students were dismissed just before noon.
“We have no information that (parents of All Saints students) should be concerned,” Singletary said.
“We’re going to keep the crime scene open for a while,” he said, so the church and school campus will remain closed. “This is going to be a long-term investigation,” he said.
“We know that you have many many questions, but there are so many things that we cannot talk about right now,” Singletary said. He declined to comment on any suspects or intended victims.
Anyone with information about the incident at St. Stephen’s should contact BPD, the FBI or ATF, he said.