'Incendiary device' in Austin leaves 1 injured: May not be related to other explosions

Show Caption Hide Caption San Antonio package bomb believed to be linked to serial bomber A package bomb that exploded at a FEDEX facility near San Antonio is believed to be linked to a serial bomber that's been terrorizing Austin, 80 miles away.

AUSTIN — One person was injured in Austin after an "incendiary device" was found at a Goodwill store but police say the incident appears not be related to the recent string of bombings across the region.

A man in his 30s was reportedly injured at the store in southwest Austin, according to a post by Austin-Travis County EMS on Twitter shortly after 7:30 p.m. CT.

Police say at this point they do not believe the incident is tied to the string of bombings across the region that have killed two people and left several others injured, including a FedEx worker earlier Tuesday.

"There was no package explosion in the 9800 block of Brodie Ln," Austin police said on Twitter. "Items inside package was not a bomb, rather an incendiary device. At this time, we have no reason to believe this incident is related to previous package bombs."

The man injured was a Goodwill employee who was going through donations when he was injured, a Goodwill spokesperson told KVUE.

Gary Davis, president and CEO of Goodwill Texas, stood outside a police barrier huddling with other Goodwill employees. He said the device was contained in a bag and detonated when a worker moved it.

“We put all the donations we get in a big cardboard box. He pulled something out in a bag, completely normal, and the device went off,” Davis said.

He added: “In this town, if an incendiary device goes off, everybody just scatters and panics. We’re all on edge.”

Authorities at the scene established a perimeter roughly a mile around the Goodwill store. The incident took place near a bustling shopping complex in a suburban section of Texas’ capital city.

Onlookers leaned over crime scene tape, clearly unnerved by rapid succession of events in what has become an all-too-familiar scene.

“I started hearing all these police sirens going off and a a big-old helicopter flying over,” said Andrew Goodman, 27, who lives less than a mile from the shopping center. “I came right over to see what the hell was going on. This is getting nuts.”

#Breaking #AustinPolice is responding to a reported explosion in 9600 block of Brodie Ln in south Austin. Please avoid the area. APD PIO en route. — Austin Police Dept (@Austin_Police) March 21, 2018

The incident comes hours after two bombs were found in FedEx facilities in the area. One of the packages in Schertz, about 20 miles northeast of San Antonio and 65 miles south of Austin, exploded and injured a worker.

The second package was reported to authorities, who "disrupted" the device, the FBI said in a statement.

There have been six bombs in total since March 2 when the attacks began and authorities have called the person behind the attacks a "serial bomber."

With each incident, the bomber appears to have changed tactics, using cardboard packages at first and later using a tripwire to hurt others.

Experts have said cases like this are difficult to solve and highly unusual. Danny Defenbaugh, a former FBI bomb technician who helped supervise more than 150 bombing investigations including the 1995 Oklahoma City attack, said it could take years to find the person responsible.

“That fact that someone could build these devices, including the one with the tripwire mechanism, and not blow himself up, that means something," Defenbaugh said. “That’s why they have hundreds of people working on this."

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Follow Christal Hayes on Twitter: Journo_Christal.

Contributing: Associated Press