FBI says package that detonated on conveyor belt is suspected to be related to four blasts that have killed two people since early March

Federal investigators said a package that exploded at a FedEx facility near San Antonio in the early hours of Tuesday was believed to be linked to the string of bombings that has killed two people and terrified Austin, the Texas capital, this month.

Austin bombs: fourth explosion in a month puts city in lockdown Read more

The package was on a conveyor belt at the facility in Schertz when it detonated, at around 1am. One worker reported ringing in her ears after the blast. She was treated and released from a hospital.

Hours later, police sent a hazardous materials team to a FedEx facility in Austin to check on a suspicious package there. There was no immediate word about whether that package contained a bomb.



Special agent Michelle Lee of the FBI in San Antonio said it was still early in the investigation of the latest explosion but “it would be silly for us not to admit that we suspect it’s related” to the four Austin bombings that have killed two people and injured four since 2 March. The latest bombing in Austin injured two men on Sunday.

Lee did not have details about the size, weight or description of the package that exploded in Schertz.

Schertz police chief Michael Hansen said the intended target was not the shipping facility or anyone in Schertz. Neither the police chief nor federal agents would say where the package was sent from, where it was being shipped or give any other details about the investigation.



White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the federal government was doing “whatever is necessary” to apprehend whoever was responsible for the bombs. Donald Trump was aware of the situation, Sanders told Fox News, adding that federal authorities were working closely with local authorities.

Police and federal agents said earlier a Sunday night blast in Austin was triggered by a nearly invisible tripwire that suggested a “higher level of sophistication” than seen in three previous package bombs left on doorsteps.



The carnage was now random, law enforcement officials said, rather than targeted at anyone in particular.



Authorities did not immediately identify the latest victims, but William Grote told the Associated Press his grandson was one of the two men wounded in the quiet Travis Country neighborhood in south-west Austin.



They suffered what police said were significant injuries and were hospitalized in stable condition. Grote said the attack left what appeared to be nails embedded in his grandson’s knees, causing a lot of pain.

On the night of the bombing, he said, one of the victims was riding a bike in the street and the other was on a sidewalk when they crossed a tripwire that knocked “them both off their feet”.

“It was so dark they couldn’t tell and they tripped,” he said. “They didn’t see it. It was a wire. And it blew up.”

Grote said his son, who lives about 100 yards from the site of the blast, raced outside. “Both of them were kind of bleeding profusely,” Grote said.

The tripwire twist heightened fear around Austin. “It’s creepy,” said Erin Mays, 33. “I’m not a scared person, but this feels very next-door-neighbor kind of stuff.”

Authorities repeated warnings about not touching unexpected packages and issued new ones to be wary of any stray object left in public, especially with wires protruding.

“We’re very concerned that with tripwires – a child could be walking down a sidewalk and hit something,” Christopher Combs, FBI agent in charge of the bureau’s San Antonio division, said in an interview.

Police originally pointed to possible hate crimes but the victims have now been black, Hispanic and white and from different parts of the city. Domestic terrorism is among the variety of possible motives investigators are looking at. Local and state police and hundreds of federal agents are investigating, and the reward for information leading to an arrest has climbed to $115,000.

“We are clearly dealing with what we believe to be a serial bomber at this point,” Austin police chief Brian Manley said, citing similarities among the four bombs. He would not elaborate, saying he did not want to undermine the investigation.

Fred Milanowski, agent in charge of the Houston division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said the Sunday bomb was anchored to a metal yard sign near the head of a hiking trail.

“It was a thin wire or filament, kind of like fishing line,” he said. “It would have been very difficult for someone to see.”

Milanowski said authorities had checked more than 500 leads. Police asked anyone with surveillance cameras at their homes to come forward with the footage on the chance it captured suspicious vehicles or people.