Someone's Leaving Package Bombs on Doorsteps in Austin, TX; One Teen Killed in Blast

Note well: They say these packages are not going through the mail or being delivered by a third party, but being left on doorsteps at night by the bomber.

So, if you're not expecting a package, and you don't see US Postal Service or third-party mail carrier markings on a package, maybe call a cop to take a look-see at it.

Two deadly explosions in Austin in the last two weeks are likely related, Austin police said Monday as they investigated the latest incident at a home in east Austin.

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Austin-Travis County EMS says a 17-year-old boy died at the scene and a woman was taken to a hospital after the explosion around 6:44 a.m. in the 4800 block of Oldfort Hill Drive, which is between 51st Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Manley said one of the residents had taken a package from the front porch inside and it exploded when they tried to open it in the kitchen. The woman had non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

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A man died at his home at the beginning of March after a "device" exploded, police say. Anthony Stephan House died after the explosion on his front porch around 6:55 a.m. March 2, on the 1100 block of Haverford Drive, which is about 12 miles away from Oldfort Hill Drive neighborhood.

Police said at the time they believed the Haverford Drive explosion was an isolated incident. Now, they are investigating them as related, and re-classified House's death from "suspicious" to "homicide."

Um, even without this second bombing -- why would you categorize a murder by package bomb as merely "suspicious" rather than as a "homicide"?

Are bombs generally thought of as merely "suspicious"?

"We do see similarities and believe these cases are linked at this time," Manley said. He acknowledged that both victims were African-American. He said at this point police are not ruling out that these incidents could be hate crimes, but cannot confirm at this time that they were.

Terrible, no matter what the motive.

posted by Ace at 08:14 PM

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