LATEST UPDATES:
- Officials believe the FedEx package bomb in San Antonio is linked to the Austin bombings
- The package bomb was sent from Austin and addressed to a home in Austin
- Another suspicious package was investigated at the Austin airport Tuesday
- The White House says it is monitoring the situation and coordinating with local officials
A package containing nails and shrapnel exploded at a FedEx distribution centre in San Antonio, Texas, early Tuesday morning, injuring one person.
READ MORE: Here’s what we know about suspected serial bombing in Austin, Texas
Fire officials said the package had been sent from Austin and was bound for a home within the city – where three package bombs, and another bomb detonated by a trip wire, have killed or injured several people in Austin over the past month. Investigators believe Tuesday’s incident is linked to those four bomb incidents.
Authorities initially said a second parcel bomb was also found at the facility, but later said it was not a threat.
WATCH: FBI cannot confirm that latest explosion tied to ‘serial bomber’ in Austin
According to the San Antonio Fire Department, the package exploded shortly after midnight at a distribution facility in Schertz, about 100 kilometres south of Austin.
The parcel was on a conveyer belt when it detonated.
The department said there were 75 people working at the facility at the time of the explosion and one person suffered a “non-life-threatening percussion type injury.”
“All inbound and outbound packages are in limbo, and transport vehicles are in gridlock,” the department said on social media. “At this hour, ATF and FBI assets are beginning to arrive.”
The fire department said the package contained nails and shrapnel.
-
![]()
Too early to connect FedEx package bomb to Austin explosions: police -
![]()
Police suspect serial bomber at work in Austin, TX -
![]()
ATF agent describes tripwire device used in latest Austin, TX bombing -
![]()
FBI issue $100,000 reward for information in Austin TX serial bombings -
![]()
Austin, TX police have ‘run leads into the ground’ trying to identify bombing suspect
Later Tuesday morning, Austin police deployed a hazardous materials squad to a FedEx facility at the city’s airport due to reports of another suspicious package. Officials have not confirmed if that package was, in fact, a bomb.
Anyone travelling through the Austin airport Tuesday was encouraged to check their flight status and arrive early.
The White House is monitoring the situation in Texas and federal authorities are coordinating with local officials, spokesperson Sarah Sanders said in a tweet Tuesday. There does not appear to be any link to terrorism at this time, Sanders stated.
“These are sick people and we have to find them as soon as possible,” President Trump said Tuesday.
Officials in Austin said they are dealing with a suspected serial bomber after four other package bombs exploded in the state capital in the past month. On Sunday, two people were injured after a bomb, which was triggered by a tripwire, detonated. Officials said two men were out for a walk when police say they may have crossed a tripwire, triggering the blast.
In the first three bombings, cardboard packages were delivered to the front doorstep of houses in the middle of the night. Victims would then open the packages on their front porches.
In Sunday’s bombing, a thin translucent tripwire like fishing line was placed near a hiking trail. Police said it was a more advanced design than the previous bombs.
Officials are still unclear as to a motive behind the explosions.
WATCH: ATF treating bombing investigation in Texas as ‘top priority’
“We are clearly dealing with what we expect to be a serial bomber at this point,” Austin police Chief Brian Manley told a news conference near the site of Sunday’s bombing.
Manley has said the bombings were being investigated as possible hate crimes, but cautioned that Sunday’s attack did not appear to have targeted specific people, and both victims were white.
WATCH: One injured following explosion at San Antonio-area FedEx facility: Police
On Mar. 2, the first package bomb took the life of Anthony Stephan House. The explosion – on the front porch – tore a hole in the home of the 39-year-old African-American.
On Mar. 12, a second bomb killed Draylen Mason when a parcel exploded in this kitchen. The 17-year-old’s mother was also injured in the attack. They were also African-Americans. The third bombing happened just hours later, injuring a 75-year-old Hispanic woman.
–with files from Kevin Nielsen and Tania Kohut
Comments