Life

FBI Suspects Austin-Bound FedEx Package's Explosion Is Linked to City's Recent Bombings

The package was reportedly bound for Austin, where multiple bombings have taken place in recent days.

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Image via Getty/Robert Alexander

A package explosion at a FedEx facility near San Antonio is believed to be connected with the multiple bombings in the Austin area earlier this month.

Special FBI Agent Michelle Lee told the Associated Press that it’s still very early in the investigation into the Tuesday explosion, but to not admit they suspect the incidents to be related "would be silly." The bomb reportedly exploded shortly after midnight Tuesday at a FedEx distribution center in Schertz.

Though the FBI has not confirmed injury reports, local police reported that one person—believed to be a FedEx employee—was released after being treated at the scene for non-life-threatening injuries.

Similarities among the devices used in the Austin blasts have authorities working with the leading opinion that the devices have all been made by the same person (or persons). If Tuesday's explosion does indeed turn out to be linked to the Austin incidents, it will mark the first one to be transported using a mail service.

Two men were injured in the most recent Austin-area explosion. This particular device was triggered by a tripwire, a design that law enforcement officials toldCNN meant that the perpetrator could "perhaps" be "more sophisticated and capable of making a more complex bomb" than originally thought.

A Roots headlining event originally scheduled for Saturday at Austin's Fair Market was canceled amid reports of a bomb threat. "Due to a security concern we have made the hard decision to cancel tonight's event," Bud Light, the event's sponsor, said. "Your safety and the safety of all fans at SXSW is our most important priority."

The NAACP has called the bombings "acts of domestic terrorism."

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