I just heard on my local news that two men were injured in a fourth explosion.
In recent weeks, there have been two fatalities and one serious injury; all the casualties were black or Hispanic, and the injured victim is a 75-year-old woman. The above story also says there’s now a $15,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
There have to be some Dopers who live there. What are people there saying about it?
My sister and her family live in Austin proper. She has stopped all ordering. If a package comes to her house she’ll know it’s not for her. They are basically on lockdown.
What a horrible thing to have to think about.
Too early to tell about the 4th one but the victims of the 1st three were connected. The families of the 1st two victims knew each other and I believe went to the same church. It’s been stated that the third bomb was intended for someone who does have a connection with the other two and the victim set off the bomb before its intended target could get to it. The fear is understandable but as of right now it seems that those that have a connection to the other victims are the ones that need to be careful.
Lived there for a few years, still have some peeps in the area. I’ve heard the first 3 targets were connected through shared social justice campaigns or protests, but nothing further besides vague speculation.
Unfortunately, it may take a while to catch this one. I’m betting it’s someone who, despite being a sociopath, has some pretty good technical skills and what until now has been a good plan to avoid detection. They’ll get him eventually but until they do, what a terrible thing for Austin.
I, too had heard that the first three victims knew each other, although AFAIK they were just casual acquaintances. Because most crime of all types, including bombings, goes on between people who know each other, when the arrest is made, it most likely will be someone with a connection to most or all of them.
Has anyone heard about other bombs being found in the region, if not the city itself? If they haven’t been caught yet, it’s a pretty safe bet that they’ve done this before, even “unsuccessfully”.
We had a random passerby setting off a trip wire. The earlier ones were victims who had some connections, then a random attack. Now the FedEx explosion. Odds are the same guy but who knows, maybe a copycat?
Four (now five) bombs, two dead, & the police chief asks the bomber to call them. :rolleyes:
Do those pleas to turn yourself in ever work?
Not to worry, the toddler-in-chief has a firm grasp on the situation:
They must be able to figure out where every package in that facility came from, then by eliminating those that didn’t explode, we’d have a short list of packages to trace or perhaps only one. Then maybe there’s video of the guy dropping it off for shipping. I bet he’s in custody before April.
Let me self moderate about political jabs in this forum, my apologies. Should have identified the quote as being from Donald and not the toddler-in-chief.
It’s actually up to six bombs. There was another at the same FedEx facility that didn’t explode.
That’s the best news yet. He’ll be in jail soon.
I thought I read something about a possible racial motivation? Were the first 3 victims black?
Yes, the first three bombs were package bombs set on the east side. 1 march 2, 2 March 12th. quiet during SXSW, then a trip wire Sunday night. Early this morning, a package exploded in a FedEx facility near San Antionio to the SW. It came from Austin and was going to an Austin address, but exploded near SA. Then around 6:30, a suspicious package was found at teh FedEx near the airport which is SE of the city. then at 10:30, they say a second bomb was found at the SE fedex facility. So that’s 1 bomb that killed someone on their porch, 10 days later a 2nd bomb on someone’s porch that killed a kid and wounded his mother, a third porch bomb that severely wounded an older woman, then a week later (Sunday) a trip wire that happened to hurt to anglo males, but could have been tripped by anyone walking in that neighborhood at 8pm, and then two maybe three bombs mailed Monday.
It’s hard to pinpoint a motive or a method at this point. It seems like when people were saying “Oh, we’re safe; just look to see if the package was left on your porch or sent through a service”, the bomber switched to services and trip wires. When they said “oh, he’s targeting minorities”, he switched to completely random targets. The main message most of us are getting is “Do you feel safe? Well, don’t. you’re not.”
Another explosion reported; this one was at a Goodwill store.
“In a statement, the company says “the individual responsible” for sending the package that blew up also shipped a second package that has been secured and turned over to law enforcement.”
The guy put his name and return address on the packages?
Isn’t mailing bombs a far less reliable, and much more risky (in terms of getting caught) method than dropping off the packages anonymously at porches, etc.?