3 Package Bombs Left on Doorsteps in Austin, TX

[Gunny]

Killed one man Mar 2, and one teen today. Two others were injured. Was on the East side of Austin, a predominantly black area.

The FBI said some sophistication was used in the devices, and they're thinking it's the same person or persons. That was reported on the news this evening.

Just great. How long before whites get blamed? Guess we better get Trump to outlaw the mail.

[Elessar]

Killed one man Mar 2, and one teen today. Two others were injured. Was on the East side of Austin, a predominantly black area.

The FBI said some sophistication was used in the devices, and they're thinking it's the same person or persons. That was reported on the news this evening.

Just great. How long before whites get blamed? Guess we better get Trump to outlaw the mail.

FBI and ATF can likely see if the substances used were the same, making some kind of link. They can test the residue.

Then go from there and search for suspects.

[Gunny]

FBI and ATF can likely see if the substances used were the same, making some kind of link. They can test the residue.

Then go from there and search for suspects.Here's the "best I can tell" quick breakdown.

The aren't going through the mail. Obvious clue #1.

The "sophistication" is the bombs are being placed then armed, presumably electronically since they are wrapped packages. One would assume the clown is not sitting on someone's doorstep, arming a bomb then wrapping it.

Or, and unlikely, he's detonating them himself remotely on a line of sight which would REALLY be dumb.

They are detonating on motion which pretty much precludes the arming then wrapping idea.

Hopefully, this person is REALLY travel restricted since all 3 bombs have been in the same neighborhood basically. 90 miles (SA to Austin) is too close for this idiot to go mobile.

[Gunny]

#4 went off early this AM, injuring 2. The first 3 were package bombs. The FBI thinks this one was set off by a tripwire. Same general area in Austin.

Sounds like they've got a fruitloop on the loose. Apparently, a fruitloop skilled in explosive devices.

[mundame]

It's sure to be a white man, isn't it? Muslims go for the mass kills, and usually suicide. Blacks couldn't do this --- the bomber has tried out three methods now and all have succeeded, very sophisticated. And I can't see why Mexicans would --- also, none ever have. A lot of people are now comparing it to Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, incl. the police chief, which is why he looks panicked: it took 17 years to catch Kaczynski.

He's staying away from cameras and he's placing all the bombs at night, so far. I bet people are buying security cameras fast as they can in Austin now. Himself and I sat by the fire tonight and thought up three more types of bombs that he could do -- easily -- and several more bomb-setting types of areas he could target at night and without cameras. He's experimenting.

This type of terrorism is to terrorize a population over time. Something that drags on and on. Just one or two people at a time are killed or injured, but it never stops. I remember the DC Shooter years ago --- he (or rather the 16-year-old kid he had enslaved) would shoot random people through a hole in the trunk of a big Chevy Impala. The whole Mid-Atlantic area was terrorized, because it just went on week after week.

[mundame]

This is what I think is the motivation for the Austin bombings ----

I think he's showing everyone that it's stupid to blame guns and try to disarm the population because of mass killings: it can be done fine without guns at all. 1. It IS Texas. Texans are really into guns and presumably are angry at all the gun grabber talk going on. 2. It IS Austin, infested by leftists. 3. Look at the timing: AFTER the Florida high school shooting, when gun-grabber talk is the worst I've ever seen it since Sandy Hook.

The Wall Street Journal has a robust comments section, and in the hundreds of replies to their story on Austin, every other poster comments sarcastically on how stupid the gun-grabber arguments are now. So it's working: people see his point. Even if it hasn't occurred to them he might be bombing to make exactly that point: that it's not guns, it's people who kill people.

[Gunny]

The FedEx facility blew up this morning around midnight here in San Antonio. It's actually off of 3009 and I-35, about a 45 minute straight shot up I-35 to Austin. About 75 employees were at work at the time. No report on injuries/casualties. Actually, no report on a damned thing.

They don't know if it's related to the Austin bombings. Nothing has been reported on what caused the explosion. So we get to sit and wait.

Guess it won't be a dull day. :)

[Gunny]

How's THIS for efficiency? The package was apparently mailed from an Austin address TO an Austin address. Took a 180 mile total circuitous route to Schertz, TX (a suburb of SA basically). I did a lot of electrical work there when they were first developing the area around FM 3009 (a farm to market road).

From the pics they showed it looks like it just blew up in the trailer.

[mundame]

How's THIS for efficiency? The package was apparently mailed from an Austin address TO an Austin address. Took a 180 mile total circuitous route to Schertz, TX (a suburb of SA basically). I did a lot of electrical work there when they were first developing the area around FM 3009 (a farm to market road).

From the pics they showed it looks like it just blew up in the trailer.

Thanks --- I thought Fox News was confused saying it was addressed FROM Austin and TO Austin but blew up in San Antonio --------- wait, what??

I suppose it's a question of a hub.

Here's the thing early this afternoon: so many explosive events are either happening or suspected or found before they exploded that a line of text on the TV read "Sixth bomb found in Texas" at the same time a reporter was SAYING that a seventh bomb had been detected, for a good five minutes.

After that they apparently realized they'd gone into hysteria and rumor mode and switched to Trump and Russians and the White House briefing till they could get the situation clarified. Good.

The mad bomber does seem to have been pretty efficient in his visit to San Antonio.............multitasking.

[Gunny]

Thanks --- I thought Fox News was confused saying it was addressed FROM Austin and TO Austin but blew up in San Antonio --------- wait, what??

I suppose it's a question of a hub.

Here's the thing early this afternoon: so many explosive events are either happening or suspected or found before they exploded that a line of text on the TV read "Sixth bomb found in Texas" at the same time a reporter was SAYING that a seventh bomb had been detected, for a good five minutes.

After that they apparently realized they'd gone into hysteria and rumor mode and switched to Trump and Russians and the White House briefing till they could get the situation clarified. Good.

The mad bomber does seem to have been pretty efficient in his visit to San Antonio.............multitasking.The "hub" is correct. Austin is 90 miles north of San Antonio on I-35. Schertz, Tx is basically the 1st "city" north of San Antonio on I-35. It was a wide spot in the road north of town back in the day, and still is, pretty much. San Antonio has just expanded to engulf it.

You said you were from Baltimore, IIRC. A run from SA to Austin is like a run from B-more to DC on 95. And as big a nightmare. The FedEx compound they showed is just a huge trucking center best I could tell. The bomb went off on the conveyor belt. The only person "injured" was one woman who was somewhere in the vicinity who complained of ringing in her hear.

I haven't seen nor heard anything else. I'm sure the local news will be "alive" and buzzing at 5.

[Gunny]

They found a 6th package. No other info on that yet. The packages were both mailed from an Austin address to an Austin address. I can't imagine anyone actually targeting Schertz :laugh:

[Gunny]

From what I gather, FedEx found the 6th package and turned it over to the "authorities" (lots of them on this).

The "7th package" was a suspicious package at Austin-Bergstrom Airport and they didn't add anything to it so I guess it was a false alarm. Maybe?

If they have an intact package bomb, they just traveled light years into the future. Bomb makers all have individual signatures.

[Kathianne]

They were closing in and he died from his explosives:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/03/21/austin-bombing-suspect-kills-self-with-explosive-as-police-close-in-report.html


Local media in Texas were reporting early Wednesday that a bombing suspect had killed himself with an explosive device.
...

[Kathianne]

More detail here: https://www.redstate.com/absentee/2018/03/21/breaking-austin-bomber-dead-high-speed-pursuit-law-enforcement-confirms/

[Gunny]

They won't name the guy until the coroner positively ID's the guy and NOK are notified. One SWAT team member was injured when the guy blew himself up. Now comes the hurry up and wait while they identify the guy, then investigate what his major malfunction was.

My dumber'n a brick SIL comes in last night and says "hey, y'all hear that bomber tried to blow up San Antonio?" Another well-informed construction site gossip :rolleyes:

[Kathianne]

They won't name the guy until the coroner positively ID's the guy and NOK are notified. One SWAT team member was injured when the guy blew himself up. Now comes the hurry up and wait while they identify the guy, then investigate what his major malfunction was.

My dumber'n a brick SIL comes in last night and says "hey, y'all hear that bomber tried to blow up San Antonio?" Another well-informed construction site gossip :rolleyes:
:laugh2:

[Elessar]

I know they located the guy, followed him, and he blew himself up.

What strikes me as being a bit odd was they released, in detail, how they determined who he
was and how they located him to the media.

Does the public really need to know the methods and tools used? Will that clue in
others as to how to avoid detection should they want to do something similar? Similar meaning
by firearm, bomb, knife...anything!

They should have said only "Good Police work and investigative technique" and left it at that.