Explosion at FedEx near San Antonio could be linked to Austin blasts, FBI says
(CNN) Investigators are trying to determine whether an explosion early Tuesday at a FedEx facility outside San Antonio is connected to four explosions that have rattled the Austin, Texas, area this month.
The most recent blast happened inside a FedEx facility in Schertz, Texas, FBI San Antonio spokeswoman Michelle Lee said. Schertz is a San Antonio suburb that is roughly an hour's drive southwest of Austin.
One FedEx team member suffered minor injuries when a "single package exploded" at the ground sorting facility, company spokesman Jim McCluskey said Tuesday in a statement. An ATF spokeswoman earlier had said no injuries were reported.
"We are not providing any additional specific information about this package at this time," McCluskey said.
Based on preliminary information gathered at the scene, Lee said there could be a connection with the four Austin explosions, which killed two people and injured four others over 17 days starting March 2.
"We suspect it is related to our investigation," Lee said.
If the FedEx incident is confirmed to be linked to the Austin blasts, it would represent a new method for bomber or bombers. None of the four previous explosives was mailed.
The ATF could not confirm that the latest explosion is associated with the Austin blasts, ATF spokeswoman Nicole Strong said. The ATF's Houston field division is at the FedEx facility in Schertz, the agency said on Twitter.
FedEx is "working closely with law enforcement in their investigation," McCluskey said.
In Austin, authorities have been combing for clues to the four explosions there, the first three of which involved cardboard packages that were left in front yards or porches and weren't delivered the US Postal Service or services such as UPS or FedEx, police say.
In the fourth blast, a device was triggered by a tripwire Sunday, injuring two men, police said.
Key developments
• President Donald Trump has been briefed on the Austin bombings, a White House spokesman said Monday, adding that the White House pledges its support to local law enforcement.
• Three members of the Congressional Black Caucus called Monday for federal officials to classify the bombings as terrorist attacks and determine whether they are "ideologically or racially motivated."
• The NAACP called the incidents "acts of domestic terrorism" and called for vigilance and caution for communities in Austin.
The four Austin bombings
Many minority residents in Austin have been on edge since the bombings started, as the first three explosions -- one on March 2, and two more on March 12 -- killed or wounded minorities who received packages at their doors. Police have not uncovered a motive and have not ruled out the possibility those bombings could be hate crimes.
The fourth explosion injured two white men, who were injured by a device left on the side of a road.
"The use of a tripwire is far less discriminating than leaving parcel bombs at residences and suggests that the latest victims were not specifically targeted," the global think tank Stratfor Threat Lens said.
The use of a tripwire suggests that the bomb maker, if he or she made all four Austin devices, is perhaps more sophisticated and capable of making a more complex bomb, law enforcement and analysts have said.
What agencies are involved?
At the state level, about 100 Texas Department of Public Safety officers, sergeants, and special agents, as well as the Texas Ranger bomb squad, bomb-sniffing dogs, intelligence agents and helicopters are also involved, CNN affiliate KXAN reported.
Police departments in Houston and San Antonio are sending bomb technicians and canine teams to Austin, their police chiefs said Monday.
More than 350 special agents assigned by the FBI, as well as ATF agents and forensic investigators in Quantico, Virginia, are on the Austin case.
To read the full story: https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/20/us/austin-explosions/index.html
