Patterico's Pontifications

3/20/2018

Explosion In Austin Tonight (UPDATE: Suspect Dead)

Filed under: General — Dana @ 7:08 pm



[guest post by Dana]

This time at a Goodwill Store:

Another explosion occurred in Austin on Tuesday evening, hours after one package exploded and another containing an explosive device was intercepted by law enforcement at FedEx facilities near that city and near San Antonio, authorities said.

The Austin Fire Department said on Twitter shortly after 7 p.m. local time (8 p.m. ET) that it was on the scene at a “reported package explosion” and that there was “one reported injury and crews evacuating building.”

Austin emergency management said medics transported a man in his 30s, and the injuries are not expected to be life-threatening.

Austin Police Dept. said that at this time they don’t believe this bomb is related to the string of bombs that have recently exploded in the city:

There was no package explosion in the 9800 block of Brodie Ln. 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.

Note: If this is connected to the serial bomber, this will be the sixth bombing since March 2. Early Tuesday morning, a package moving through the FedEx ground sorting center in Schertz exploded.

As it stands now:

Four bombs have killed two people and injured others in Austin since March 2, with the most recent on Sunday believed to have been triggered by a tripwire that injured two people, authorities have said. In most of those bombings, packages left on doorsteps or in front yards exploded, officials said.

This notes a significant change in how authorities are looking at things:

“With this tripwire, this changes things,” Christopher Combs, special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Antonio division, said at a news conference on Monday, referring to the previous day’s explosion. “It’s more sophisticated, it’s not targeted to individuals.

A child could be walking down a sidewalk and hit something.”

Law enforcement believe the serial bomber is sophisticated and organized:

Danny Defenbaugh, a former FBI bomb technician who helped supervise more than 150 bombing investigations including the 1995 Oklahoma City attack, said such serial campaigns are unusual and can take years to solve.

“In my experience, you are looking beyond a person who simply searched the Internet for how to build these things,” Defenbaugh said.

Defenbaugh said the devices involved in the explosions — and the range of apparent sophistication — probably has investigators trying to narrow a field of possible suspects who have some formal engineering experience in the military, law enforcement or from other sources.

“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.”

Weldon Kennedy, a former FBI deputy director, called the Austin serial bombings “highly unusual’’ and a challenge for the army of federal and local authorities who have descended on central Texas.

There are currently 350 FBI agents in Austin, as well as additional bomb squads.

Additionally, Gov. Abbott has released emergency funds to purchase x-ray machines to be used to help inspect packages:

Texas Governor Greg Abbott today announced an additional release of $265,000 in emergency funding to help assist bombing investigations in Austin after four attacks this month in that city. The money will be used to purchase technology that will aid law enforcement in assessing package safety.

The Emergency funding will be made available “for the Austin Police Department (APD) and the Texas Ranger Bomb Response Team to purchase seven portable x-ray systems for use in bomb detection and responding to suspicious package investigations,” the governor’s office said in a news release Monday. “These x-ray systems are used by bomb technicians on-scene and provide clear visual evidence for rapid assessment of a package’s safety.”

According to the release, several of these units are already in use by “Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) technicians.”

Prayers for the families who have lost their loved ones, and for anxious residents. Also, prayers that law enforcement locate and arrest the suspect before anyone else is killed.

(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)

–Dana

UPDATE BY PATTERICO: Numerous outlets are reporting that the suspect is dead by one of his own bombs, after being identified and approached by police.

UPDATE BY DANA: You can read about the suspect here.

45 Responses to “Explosion In Austin Tonight (UPDATE: Suspect Dead)”

  1. There is a good timeline of events here.

    Dana (023079)

  2. the takeaway here is that the fbi is very concerned about managing expectations i think

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  3. Google says it will spend $300M over the next three years to support journalism and fight disinformation through the newly announced Google News Initiative

    isn’t it interesting how the funding covers pretty much precisely the remainder of President Trump’s first term

    i think that’s very interesting

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  4. I think you meant to put to put that on the Melania cyberbullying thread, happyfeet.

    nk (dbc370)

  5. you’re right Mr. nk

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  6. The first lines were directed at homes, the last seem to be focused at business like federal express and goodwill, that doesn’t seem
    to fit a pattern. Except chaos and terror.

    narciso (d1f714)

  7. They never made a case against the Tylenol poisoner of 1982, either. And it took the Unabomber’s own brother to snitch him out after a 17-year bombing spree.

    nk (dbc370)

  8. Awful. As if people don’t have enough to worry about in their daily lives already…

    “Some problems in Texas?” – James Mattoon Scott [Burt Lancaster] ‘Seven Days In May’ 1964

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  9. For extortion. But he claimed that it was only opportunistic and he was not the real poisoner and the government could not make a case otherwise despite their strong suspicions.

    nk (dbc370)

  10. Tonight’s explosion at the Goodwill store was not a bomb or a copycat. Someone donated an artillery simulator and the employee was burned by it when it flared. Keep Austin Weird.

    DRJ (15874d)

  11. DRJ and I solved this case in the other thread.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  12. the takeaway here is that the fbi is very concerned about managing expectations i think

    happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/20/2018 @ 7:16 pm

    They’re good at cover ups, destroying evidence and pinning crimes on the wrong people so there’s that.

    Pinandpuller (07dfad)

  13. I already mentioned that some people think the Unabomber did the Tylenol poisoning as well.

    It’s been a while since we had a rash of mice found in coke cans. We’re about due.

    Pinandpuller (07dfad)

  14. Ive never been able to open a Tylenol lid since 82.

    mg (9e54f8)

  15. Tylenol capsules were all the rage on Halloween 82.

    mg (9e54f8)

  16. Breaking- CNN now reporting local media in Austin saying serial bomber dead in officer-involved shoot out in Round Rock, TX.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  17. @17. Follow-up; local reports say suspect blew self up.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  18. Good riddance bomber. Will there be a leftist manifesto to follow?

    NJRob (aa7435)

  19. looks like our incompetent suckboy FBI gets a pass on this one

    yay they can go back to doing gay porn and skittles all up in it

    this way they’re playing to their strengths

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  20. speaking of the dirty dirty fbi

    here’s a nicely succinct sketch of what a pristinely unethical and dishonest little fbi suckboy their last director was

    Is James Comey A Serial Liar?

    Comey testified that he briefed Trump about the salacious “dossier” before Trump was inaugurated because he’d learned that the media were about to report on it. But it’s more likely that Comey briefed Trump /for the express purpose of getting its embarrassing content out into the public/. Since, as soon as that meeting was over, it leaked to the press.

    As Graham and Grassley note in their IG letter, the press wasn’t covering the dossier before that briefing because they considered it unverified. But the mere fact that Trump had been briefed on it instantly made it newsworthy. “CNN only broke the story on the dossier because Mr. Comey briefed the President-Elect about it,” they note.

    In other words, it’s far more likely that Comey lied about why he briefed Trump, a briefing that just happened to get the entire Russia scandal story rolling in the press.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  21. UPDATE BY PATTERICO: Numerous outlets are reporting that the suspect is dead by one of his own bombs, after being identified and approached by police

    Patterico (a64372)

  22. I dunno. I was recently asked if it was possible that the FBI was behind Martin Luther King’s assassination. I said that it was unlikely because the killer had been taken alive.

    nk (dbc370)

  23. making bombs is a tricky business

    ask Jennifer Lawrence she’ll tell ya

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  24. But anybody can make Novichok in his kitchen sink. Just ask papertiger.

    nk (dbc370)

  25. We lived in a western suburb of Chicago in ’82 and some of the tampered Tylenol was purchased at a store I shopped at. Several of the victims lived in the same vicinity that I did. Oddly enough that really didn’t affect me as much back then as it does now (?) My lasting memory is that they canceled all Halloween trick or treating which left me with candy for 500 …. I do remember the panic that was lying just under the surface of the daily life in the area. You had no idea who, when, why …. the same type of distress that I see/saw in Austin. That unknown quality to the crime is quite intense.

    I find it interesting that in the Tylenol poisoning nobody talks about the fact that one victim (the mom with a new baby) had received her Tylenol from the hospital pharmacy, a closed pharmacy that didn’t have Tylenol on the shelves…. which leaves a huge opening for the tampering to have taken place in J&J’s manufacturing or distribution centers. That bottle has never been explained as far as I know.

    Marci (98fec4)

  26. it’s not actually unlikely the Tylenol poisoning saved hundreds of lives

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  27. Yes he’s been lying at least since 2003, if not earlier. Re the MLK assassination, Stephen berry has a unique take.

    narciso (d1f714)

  28. I think her name was Mary Reiner, Marci.

    DRJ (15874d)

  29. Hiding the armitage admission, misrepresenting the bedside convo, and making muchadoo about the us attys

    narciso (d1f714)

  30. What’s interesting about the Tylenol poisonings is why investigators first thought it was the Tylenol: the sudden, simultaneous deaths of healthy members of the Janus family and the same lot number on Tylenol bottles at different deaths. The Janus deaths seem like bad luck, but the lot numbers seem like evidence the poisoning could have happened at the distribution level.

    DRJ (15874d)

  31. The bomber was 24, unemployed, lived with 2 roommates (who are cooperating with law enforcement), and had not served in the forces.

    No indication of any particular axe to grind, political, ideological, or religious motive has been reported. Cops are cautious waiting to see if additional bombs are already in the pipeline. We’ll know much more before this evening’s news shows.

    PS: nk, MLK was murdered at the direction of Hoover’s FBI. Look into how and why his motel room was switched from an inside (protected) room to a 2nd floor outside room (openly vulnerable to rifle attack) on the morning of arrival.

    Then consider just how JER happened to be in town and knew to take a room with a view of the door to MLK’s room. You might also consider why JER went back to the gun store and exchanged rifles.

    There’s much more, but of course, you’ll never spend the time, it’s so much easier to ignore government corruption and make light of conspiracy theories.

    After all the FBI would no more murder MLK than they would stage a coup to remove an elected President. To even contemplate the possibility would be like waking up only to find 20% of our uranium had been sold to Vladimir Putin. It’s all just too far fetched to be even remotely possible.

    ropelight (f8000f)

  32. Reminds me of stories about the Servant Girl Murders, too. Evil has always been with us.

    DRJ (15874d)

  33. Mark Anthony Conditt https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DY0RErTX4AEnrlW.jpg

    Colonel Haiku (ed0bb1)

  34. See. When me and DRJ are on the case…

    Tag em and bag em.

    We frown on crime. 🙁

    papertiger (c8116c)

  35. Agatha Christie and Inspector Clouseau…

    Colonel Haiku (ed0bb1)

  36. Will Bill Ayers deliver the eulogy?

    harkin (0236a2)

  37. Meanwhile……

    “Three illegal immigrants, who avoided capture after Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf blew the whistle on a raid by federal immigration authorities last month, have since been re-arrested for new crimes including robbery and spousal abuse, ICE officials said.”

    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/03/20/illegal-immigrants-who-dodged-california-ice-raid-after-dem-mayors-tip-off-re-arrested-for-new-crimes.html

    harkin (0236a2)

  38. Update added.

    UPDATE BY DANA: You can read about the suspect here.

    Dana (023079)

  39. You are more than welcome to bag this guy, papertiger. Wear gloves.

    Colonel Haiku (ed0bb1)

  40. One of the agents who apparently profiled him pretty accurately before today said he may have had an accomplice……hope not.

    http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2018/03/20/i-team-former-atf-agent-suspects-austin-bomber-may-have-an-accomplice/

    harkin (0236a2)

  41. Naw. I make sure it’s known the company’s in business. I see that it has a certain panache. That’s what I’m good at. Not the work, not the work… the presentation.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  42. Agatha Christie and Inspector Clouseau…

    Colonel Haiku (ed0bb1)

    I was aiming for Remingtion Steel.

    [ay carumba] but you’re right. Caught by the Fedex cameras just like DRJ said yesterday.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  43. The big, bad ‘deep state’ traced, tracked, triangulated, tagged and bagged him real fast, didn’t it.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  44. With a big ol dollop of help from Agatha Cristie and Inspector Clouseau.

    They ever solve the anthrax letter case? Come on DRJ. Let’s get him.

    papertiger (c8116c)


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