Two Men Seriously Injured in Single Southwest Austin Explosion

By Jeremy Schwartz, Mark D. Wilson, Brandon Mulder, Tony Plohetski, John Bridges and Tom Labinski, Austin American-Statesman

19 March 18

 

n explosion tore through a quiet Southwest Austin neighborhood Sunday night, sending two men to the hospital with serious injuries and heightening worries that a serial package bomber is targeting the city’s residents.

Shortly before 9 p.m., an explosion rocked a neighborhood north of Southwest Parkway near the MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) interchange, sparking the closure of several streets and bringing a massive law enforcement contingent of Austin police and FBI agents to the neighborhood. Officers planned to carefully inspect the neighborhood throughout the night for clues and other suspicious objects. Around 11 p.m., police closed an area near Dawn Song Drive to check out a suspicious backpack left near the scene of the explosion.

Austin interim Police Chief Brian Manley urged anyone within a half-mile radius of Dawn Song Drive to stay inside or avoid the area until daylight. At a news conference near the scene, he told reporters that he was not going to take questions “because we simply just don’t know anything at this time.”

Shortly after midnight, about 15 federal agents were walking side-by-side stretched across Travis County Circle near the entrance to the Travis Country subdivision shining flashlights on the road searching for clues.

At 1:30 a.m., Manley again addressed reporters and said it was possible that a trip-wire triggered the explosion, a departure from the three previous bombs that were all inside packages. Manley said investigators believe Sunday’s explosion was caused by a bomb and are operating under the assumption that it was connected to the three prior blasts.

Some neighbors reported they had been told the explosion was the result of a trip wire, but police would not confirm any details of the blast Sunday night.

Two men in their 20s were hospitalized with serious injuries, but officials said later that they were in good condition.

If Sunday’s blast is connected to the three bombs that have killed two Austin residents and injured two others since March 2, it would mark a geographic widening of the bomber’s targets. The first three bombs were east of Interstate 35 and hit black or Hispanic residents. The first two victims, 39-year-old Anthony Stephan House and 17-year-old Draylen Mason, are connected to two prominent African-American families with ties to an East Austin church and long histories fighting for racial justice and empowerment of the city’s African-American community. The third bomb hit a Latina resident and her mother in Montopolis.

For many worried Austinites, the bombings raised the specter that someone was targeting minority residents and police have said they are probing the family connections between the victims.

Manley appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” early Monday and confirmed that the two victims in the Dawn Song bombing as “two Anglo males.”

He also said that “at this point, we have people we have looked at, but there’s no leading suspect at this time.”

Fred Burton, a security and terrorism analyst at Austin-based Stratfor, said he thinks it is possible that the suspect has shifted his approach — and potentially the kind of explosive material being used — in order to continue to elude authorities and to continue to strike fear in neighborhoods.

“We have a very crafty bomber here,” he told the American-Statesman and KVUE-TV. “I think this is a bomber who understands that he has given the cops a tremendous amount of forensics with the three previous devices … If this is true that there is some kind of trip wire that has been added to the mix, this is a person very familiar with bombs.”

He said he thinks it is not a coincidence that the attack happened on the same day that authorities increased the reward for information in the case.

“Clearly the bomber watches the news, and I think the timing is very curious in light of that,” he said. “This is a person who could have a range of motivations.”

Austin Mayor Steve Adler said Monday that he is trying to strike a balance between urging residents to be cautious about any suspicious items in their neighborhoods while at the same time remaining calm.

“We are going to find out who did this, and we are going to stop it,” Adler told the American-Statesman and KVUE-TV.

He said he has reached out to family members of the first three victims.

“They are concerned, and they are trying to find answers,” he said. “We are all trying to find answers. I just wanted to assure them we are doing everything we can do…and to repeat the commitment that we are going to find who is doing this, and we are going to stop it.”

Adler said a “small army” of federal, state and local law enforcement officials continue investigating the case and that the city will do everything possible to ensure they have proper resources.

He continued urging anyone who sees a suspicious item to call 911.

‘Quiet community’

Angie Wagner, a Travis Country homeowners association board member who lives in the area of Sunday night’s explosion, said the neighborhood is a quiet, close-knit community.

“This will cause everyone to keep a closer eye on things,” she said. “We just started a community watch program, and they’re about to start their training.”

Russell Reno has lived in the area for about six months. He said a big reason why he chose to move into the neighborhood from Buda was because it was a relaxed and family-oriented.

He said he had heard about explosions in other parts of the city and was perplexed why someone would target his neighborhood.

“There are some sick people in the world,” he said.

It’s not clear if the fourth device was left at someone’s door as in the first three instances.

Police have said that whoever constructed the first three bombs used common household items that can be easily purchased at hardware stores, potentially making efforts to identify the perpetrator more difficult, law enforcement officials said last week.

Federal agents this week have been visiting local stores trying to determine if a customer purchased items that appear suspicious, but have not gained information to lead them to a possible suspect, sources have said.

Even before Sunday night, the bombings had put Austin on edge as it hosted the massive South by Southwest festival. Austin police have responded to about 700 suspicious package calls, and Manley said earlier Sunday that more than 500 federal agents are assisting the Police Department in the investigation, including officials from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Authorities have followed up on 435 leads that led to 236 interviews.

A bomb scare led to the cancellation of a highly anticipated SXSW showcase by the Roots on Saturday night. Later that night, a 26-year-old man was arrested and charged with emailing the threat that led to the concert. Trevor Weldon Ingram faces up to 10 years in prison on charges of making a terroristic threat, but police said they do not think he is connected to the earlier bombings.

On Sunday police announced a $50,000 increase to the reward offered in exchange for any information leading to the arrest of the bomber behind three recent deadly explosions.

The increase, on top of $15,000 being offered by Gov. Greg Abbott and the $50,000 reward offered by police last week, brings the total reward amount to $115,000.

Police also said that they believe the incidents were intended to send a message and continued to plead for any information from the community.

“We don’t know what the ideology is behind this or what the motive is behind this,” Manley said.