Two delivery bombs explode in Austin; police believe they are linked to an earlier explosion as local authorities, FBI search for clues

For the second and third time in a month, two hand-delivered bombs detonated in Austin, Texas, killing at least one person and injuring two others at separate locations.

According to local media, the first explosion on Monday occurred in the 4800 block of Oldfort Hill Drive in East Austin. That bomb killed a 17-year-old teen and injured a woman believed to be in her 40s.

A while later, a second explosion injured a 70-year-old woman in the 6700 block of Galindo Street in southeast Austin. Travis County emergency medical personnel transported the woman to Dell Seton Medical Center with “serious and potentially life-threatening injuries,” according to the Austin Statesman newspaper.

The paper noted further:

Hours after [the second Monday] incident, interim Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said that explosion appeared similar and likely related to another explosion in Northeast Austin on March 2.

Authorities on Monday also warned residents against taking suspicious packages inside their homes.

The incidents are being investigated by police and federal authorities, as a homicide, the chief said.

He also said that investigators were not ruling out the possibility of the explosions being a hate crime because the victims in those cases are African-American.

U.S. Postal Service officials have told local authorities that the packages delivered to the two addresses did not come through any of their facilities. Manley said that means they were very likely hand-delivered by someone. (Related: Proof that ‘Black Lives Matter,’ Antifa are nothing more than anarchist groups.)

He added that authorities are aware of the kind of explosives that were used in Monday’s bombings but are not releasing the details in order to preserve the integrity of the investigation, the Statesman reported.

“We will not tolerate this in Austin,” he told reporters.

In the March 2 incident, police responded to a home in the 1100 block of Haverford Dr. around 6:55 a.m. EMS personnel called to the scene transported Anthony Stephan House, 39, to an area hospital, but he later succumbed to his injuries. The bombings have all occurred in the early morning hours.

Police do not have any suspects or, at least, none that they have announced publicly. “We do know that both of the homes that were the recipients of these packages belonged to African Americans, so we cannot rule out that hate crime is at the core of this, but we’re not saying that’s the cause,” Manley noted.

As further reported by CBS Dallas-Fort Worth, the packages in all three bombings were left at the front door of the victims’ homes, which is why he and other investigators think the incidents are linked.

“Early this morning one of the residents went out front, and there was a package on the front doorstep. They brought that package inside the residence and as they opened that package — both victims were in the kitchen — and the package exploded,” he said.

In addition to the Austin Police, agents with the FBI, U.S. Postal Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are also investigating.

As of this writing, no media outlets are reporting any suspected links to terrorists — domestic or otherwise. But some observers have noted that the targeting of blacks is suspicious because while it could be due to simple racism, hence the hate crime angle, it’s also possible that blacks are being targeted specifically to create division.

Also, there is some speculation that a domestic terrorist organization — like members of Antifa, perhaps — may be responsible as a way of ginning up anger and resentment towards Trump supporters in the Deep Red state of Texas (though Austin is a blue city).

Stay tuned.

J.D. Heyes is editor of The National Sentinel and a senior writer for Natural News and News Target.

Sources include:

DFW.CBSLocal.com

TheNationalSentinel.com

Statesman.com