The Latest on the bombings in Austin, Texas (all times local):
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – The Latest on the bombings in Austin, Texas (all times local):
10:25 a.m.
Authorities have called on the person or people behind the bombings in Austin, Texas, to reach out to the police to let them know why they’re setting off the explosives.
Police Chief Brian Manley said Monday that it’s too soon to say whether Sunday night’s bombing that injured two men could have been a response to his call for those behind the bombings to reach out.
Manley says investigators see « similarities » between Sunday night’s bomb and three others this month that killed two people and injured two others. But he says Sunday’s differed in that it involved a tripwire whereas the others were package bombs left on people’s doorsteps.
Frederick Milanowski, the special agent in charge for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, says the latest bomb is « more sophisticated » because it used a tripwire.
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10:15 a.m.
Authorities say investigators see « similarities » between the latest bomb to detonate in Texas’ capital city and three bombs that went off earlier this month.
Police Chief Brian Manley said at a news conference Monday that although the bomb that injured two men Sunday night seems linked to the three previous ones, the latest bomb involved a tripwire and those three were package bombs left on people’s doorsteps.
Frederick Milanowski, the special agent in charge for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, says the latest bomb is « more sophisticated » because it used a tripwire.
Manley says the two victims are men ages 22 and 23 and that they are hospitalized in stable condition with significant injuries.
Both men are white, as opposed to the victims of the three prior bombings, who were black or Hispanic. Those attacks killed two people and injured two others.
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9 a.m.
Austin’s mayor says growing anxieties are « legitimate and real » following the fourth bombing in the city this month.
Mayor Steve Adler told The Associated Press on Monday that residents shouldn’t think twice about calling 911 if they see anything suspicious. A blast occurred Sunday night in a neighborhood far from the sites of the three package bombings in Austin this month.
Police haven’t confirmed the latest explosion, which injured two men who were riding or pushing bikes, is related to the first three, but they’re looking into the possibility.
Authorities say Sunday’s explosion was detonated by a tripwire and showed a different level of skill from previous blasts. Adler says the concern now is that « the methodology has changed. »
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8:30 a.m.
Austin’s police chief says the two men injured in the most recent bombing in Austin were riding or pushing bicycles when the explosives detonated.
Police Chief Brian Manley told ABC’s « Good Morning America » on Monday that Sunday night’s explosion was detonated by a tripwire and showed « a different level of skill. » The attack differed from three earlier blasts in Austin this month, which were caused by package bombs left on people’s doorsteps.
The men injured in Sunday’s blast were white, unlike the victims of the first three bombings, who were black or Hispanic.
Authorities have cordoned off the neighborhood where the bomb went off Sunday night and have warned residents to remain indoors while officers check for anything suspicious.
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8:20 a.m.
The University of Texas’ campus police force is warning students returning from spring break to be aware of the four recent bombings to hit Austin, saying, « We must look out for one another. »
In a tweet Monday, UT Austin police said, « When you get on campus this morning ASK your friends if they’ve heard about the bombings. TELL them about the incidents. »
It also urged students to report suspicious items to the authorities. Classes were resuming Monday after a week off.
A blast triggered by a tripwire in a residential neighborhood Sunday night injured two men. Three previous package bombs detonated in different parts of the city since March 2, killing two people and injured two more.
None of those incidents were close to the university’s sprawling campus near the heart of Austin.
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8 a.m.
Austin’s police chief says the latest bombing to hit the city was detonated by a tripwire, « showing a different level of skill. »
Police Chief Brian Manley told ABC’s « Good Morning America » on Monday that both of the men injured in Sunday night’s blast are white, unlike the victims in the city’s three previous bombings this month, who were black or Hispanic.
Sunday night’s explosion happened in the southwestern Austin residential neighborhood of Travis Country. The three previous bombings happened two-plus weeks in residential neighborhoods east of Interstate 35, which divides the city.
Authorities have warned Travis Country residents to remain indoors until 10 a.m. as police scour the area for anything suspicious.
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7:25 a.m.
Police have warned residents near the site of the latest explosion in Austin to remain indoors and to call 911 if they need to leave home before 10 a.m.
Authorities say Sunday night’s explosion in the Travis Country neighborhood in southwestern Austin injured two men and may have been triggered by a tripwire. The police chief repeated his warning to residents not to touch or approach suspicious packages.
Investigators are trying to determine whether the blast is related to three package bombings this month in other parts of the city that killed two people and injured two others.
Austin’s school district announced that buses wouldn’t be going into the Travis Country neighborhood.
Authorities had already offered $115,000 in rewards for information leading to an arrest in the first three bombings.
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press.
