Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

I don’t recall signing up for living in a dystopian sci-fi novel.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

We still have time to mess this up!

People are weird.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

You are here: Home / Politics / America / Breaking: Another Parcel Bomb Explodes in Austin, Texas

Breaking: Another Parcel Bomb Explodes in Austin, Texas

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Provided this is the same perpetrator for all the bombings, or at least all the parcel/package bombs, then he (it is most likely a he) is rapidly moving through his escalation cycle.

From CBS Austin:

AUSTIN, Tex. (KEYE) — A new explosion has been reported in South Austin, hours after explosive packages were found at FedEx facilities in Schertz and near the Austin airport — and four other explosions over the past several weeks have left two dead and four others injured.

According to Austin-Travis County EMS, the latest reported incident happened at around 7 p.m. near the intersection of Brodie and West Slaughter Lanes.

The Austin Fire Department is reporting the explosion happened at a Goodwill location.

A man in his 30s was transported to St. David’s South Austin Medical Center with potentially serious, but not life-threatening injuries.

Reaction from the Austin American Statesman breaking news editor who lives near the most recent bombing:

And it appears this may have been a two for, which is often used to lure law enforcement and emergency services in with the first device and then attack them with the second.

I’m working with Alain to try to embed the live feed from CBS Austin, as soon as I can I’ll update.

If you receive a package that you did not order, that does not appear to have normal delivery markings, that appears to be discolored or misshapen, or that seems suspicious: call the authorities. This type of very public type of serial killing will inspire copycats. Better safe than sorry.

Update at 9:15 PM EDT

Here’s the live feed from KXAN Austin:

Updated at 9:25 PM EDT

We have some good news:

Looks to be a low grade copycat.

Stay frosty!

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

123Comments

  3. 3.

    Mnemosyne

    True to form, the gun nuts are now saying that we can’t do anything about guns until we figure out how to stop mail bombers. ?

  4. 4.

    TenguPhule

    @Baud:

    It’s good if he ignores it.

    Its not good that this is now expected behavior from the executive branch.

  5. 5.

    TenguPhule

    @Mnemosyne:

    True to form, the gun nuts are now saying that we can’t do anything about guns until we figure out how to stop mail bombers.

    And of course it will turn out the bomber owns guns.

  8. 8.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @Mnemosyne:

    You know, the only thing that is going to stop a bad guy with a bomb is a good guy with a bomb.

    Isn’t that the RWNJ POV?

  9. 9.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Mnemosyne:
    Only a good guy with a mail bomb can stop a bad guy with a mail bomb

    Shit, West of the Rockies beat me to it!

  11. 11.

    chuckInAustin

    Holy crap, this one is even closer to me than the last one. Early reports are that an employee was looking in the donation box. They are suspicious of another device in the area. I just saw video of the street (a very busy street, major SW Austin traffic artery.) and there is an army of LE vehicles.
    I can’t believe they aren’t zeroing in on whoever did it. So many explosions. I can’t believe there is not some surveillance video somewhere.
    I’ll check back in after band rehearsal. (Yeah, I live in Austin and I’m in a band, fking cliche really.)

  12. 12.

    Adam L Silverman

    @rikyrah: Based on the first three targets, my professional estimation was it was either 1) someone from within the Austin African American community who was targeting affluent, notable, and/or elite members of that community out of an objective and/or subjective grievance or 2) someone from outside the Austin African American community who was targeting affluent, notable, and/or elite members of that community. The fourth attack was just weird. Either the bomber was trying to throw off investigators by changing his targeting and tactics or something else is going on. I’ve not seen anything yet about who the packages from the FedEx facility were addressed to, so the FedEx employee who got injured doesn’t help with victimology analysis. And I’m not sure the bombs at a Goodwill store will either, unless someone there is tied to one of the three original intended victims (remember victim 3 was not the intended target of the third bomb, the parcel was left at the wrong house).

    So as a criminologist who is also a subject matter expert on terrorism, I’m not sure we have enough yet to call this anything other than serial murder via bomb. Or attempted serial murder via bomb.

  17. 17.

    TenguPhule

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I’m not sure we have enough yet to call this anything other than serial murder via bomb.

    Like that’s gonna stop the cable news 24 hr speculation orgy.

  18. 18.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @TenguPhule:
    Yeah, now every day it seems like a fresh new horror is there to greet me in the morning and I worry about the country turning into a one-party authoritarian state. I never imagined that happening two or three years ago. I thought the US had the stronger hand compared to the EU, for example.

  20. 20.

    TenguPhule

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:

    I thought the US had the stronger hand compared to the EU, for example

    We had superior firepower. That’s about it.

    They didn’t go through 2 world wars without learning some valuable lessons.

    Sadly, history and civics became optional in our nation.

  21. 21.

    Adam L Silverman

    @raven: Sorry I forgot to put a post up about that last week. I got busy and it slipped with all the other stuff going on.

  22. 22.

    satby

    @Mike J: Almost all Goodwill stores normally have security cameras outside, but whether it recorded anybody depends on how far the donation box was from the building and if a camera was pointed that way. They’re usually aimed at the doors and windows.

  23. 23.

    Stan W. Baker

    For those of you who survived Austin, somehow, but can’t be bothered …

    The first bomb was about a mile East-Southeast of the Walmart at Parmer and I-35, which you will note is a gentrification proof area near Pflugerville. The next was at the amazingly, resiliently tax-proof Springdale at 51st, another majority non-white area. Montopolis, similarly resilient and non-white despite every effort over the last 20 years (The Metropolis, anyone?) Then 290 at Mopac, but designed to hit pedestrians and who else has the unmitigated gall to WALK in “Our Austin”?

    And now in front of the Goodwill, of all places, at Brodie and Slaughter, although miles away considered much the same “neighborhood” as 290 at Mopac. In a city that let building after building burn downtown with not so much as an investigation by the fire department in the late 90s because the tenants were undesirable.

    I hear you, Austin. That’s why I moved the hell out in 2015.

  27. 27.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @TenguPhule:
    I remember hearing the US economy was stronger than the EU’s. Also, neofascism seemed to be gaining a foothold there and I believed that the US could hold out against that; a beacon of hope and liberty..That was around 2014-2016 before the horrors of Trump and the GOP’s (further) turn towards authoritarianism.

    For the record, I still think the US will come out of this.

  31. 31.

    lamh36

    @DavidBegnaud
    2m2 minutes ago
    More
    BREAKING: Austin, Texas Police now say “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.”

    twitter.com/DavidBegnaud/status/976264989014097920

  36. 36.

    JGabriel

    FINAL Multiple assets #ATCEMS @AustinFireInfo @Austin_Police on scene Brodie Ln/W Slaughter Ln (1902) reported explosion

    Seriously, Town Planning Board Members, wherever you are: Don’t ever give a street the name of Slaughter.

  38. 38.

    Adam L Silverman

    @raven: More seriously, the real issue here is he appears to be moving through his escalation cycle very, very rapidly.

  40. 40.

    Mike J

    @JGabriel:

    Seriously, Town Planning Board Members, wherever you are: Don’t ever give a street the name of Slaughter.

    Probably the last name of subdivision developer, or someone he wanted to suck up to.

  43. 43.

    mad citizen

    @Adam L Silverman: “1) someone from within the Austin African American community who was targeting affluent, notable, and/or elite members of that community out of an objective and/or subjective grievance or 2) someone from outside the Austin African American community who was targeting affluent, notable, and/or elite members of that community. ”

    Isn’t this set everybody?

  44. 44.

    Steeplejack

    @Mnemosyne:

    Only a good guy with a package can stop a bad guy with a package?

    When I lived in Atlanta I had a friend who worked at UPS, and she said one of the employees’ running jokes was about someone “going parcel” during the hectic Christmas season.

  46. 46.

    Czanne

    @Adam L Silverman: Need to know who lived on the block where the tripwire one went off. Who walked their dog or took an evening stroll. They’re not random.

    But I now expect the pattern to change. The boxes will get better camouflage (fake but legit looking shipping labels, use USPS/UPS/FedEx free boxes or recycled Amazon boxes with top tape intact) into public but obscured places, like trash cans, donation drops, some park and playground equipment. Not because they don’t have targets left – they probably do – but because chaff matters.

    My gut says they’re targeting generosity.

  48. 48.

    raven

    @Mike J:

    Slaughter Lane
    Named from nearby Slaughter Creek, which was named for Stephen F. Slaughter, who received the original grant of land in the area on March 12, 1835, and was one of the first settlers in the current Travis County area (originally part of Bastrop County).

  49. 49.

    Czanne

    @JGabriel: OTish, but yes, I did once have reason to repeatedly visit a subdivision where the street names were devastating battles. Antietam, Agincourt, Normandy, Gettysburg… yeah.

  52. 52.

    raven

    @Czanne: Yea, and @Czanne: Yea, the bomber KNEW exactly when two guys on bikes would be there.

    Sunday night’s explosion occurred in the 4800 block of Dawn Song Drive, which is in southwest Austin. The earlier explosions occurred in separate suburbs in the eastern part of the city. Early on Monday morning, Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said the explosion may have been triggered by a trip wire, which the men came into contact with while biking or pushing their bicycles along the road.

    please

  54. 54.

    lamh36

    @ATFHQ
    Follow Follow @ATFHQ
    More
    BREAKING: ATF responded to a reported incident in the 9800 block of Brodie Lane, Austin. It was not a package bomb. An incendiary device was located, one injured. At this time, it does not appear to be related to the #packagebombmurders.

    twitter.com/ATFHQ/status/976263656429309952

    I’m thinking the “at this time” is the most important part of the statement? So not definitive that it’s related to the others?

    My question…why couldn’t/wouldn’t the bomber be able to vary their pattern when they know maybe the press and PD have noticed one?

  55. 55.

    Chyron HR

    I can’t begin to express what a relief it is to be freed from the yoke of the “neoliberal status quo” we had from 2009-2016.

  57. 57.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Czanne:

    My gut says they’re targeting generosity

    What a truly fucked up mind the bomber must have if this is his motivation. The bombs are bad enough by themselves.

  58. 58.

    Adam L Silverman

    Good news!

  59. 59.

    TenguPhule

    @lamh36:

    why couldn’t/wouldn’t the bomber be able to vary their pattern when they know maybe the press and PD have noticed one?

    My understanding is that once bombers figure out how to make a bomb a certain way, they tend to stick to it as proven to work rather then risk blowing themselves up by trying something radically new. Its how they track experienced bombers with a history. So the bomber can change disbersement methods, but not the actual guts of the bombs themselves.

  62. 62.

    raven

    Willie Peter make you a believer. . .

    Though colloquially often known as bombs, they are not explosives but in fact are designed to slow the process of chemical reactions and use ignition rather than detonation to start and or maintain the reaction. Napalm for example, is petroleum especially thickened with certain chemicals into a ‘gel’ to slow, but not stop, combustion, releasing energy over a longer time than an explosive device. In the case of napalm, the gel adheres to surfaces and resists suppression.

  65. 65.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    I haven’t seen so many consecutive bombs since Adam Sandler started making movies.

  67. 67.

    Adam L Silverman

    @mad citizen: No, it is two different potential motivations for the crime. The first would be an in group dispute – real or imagined or a combination. The latter would be someone from out of the group, so likely not African American, deciding to target affluent, elite, and/or notable members of the Austin African American community to terrorize the entire Austin African American community, as well as African Americans in other parts of the US.

  69. 69.

    NotMax

    @raven

    Just an aside. There’s a movie called Slaughter on the Khyber Pass. Happened to see it listed on Amazon Prime. (One description I saw called it a paella Western – the Spanish equivalent of a spaghetti Western – set in what was then India.)

    Anyhoo, the “Prime” banner sitting diagonally at the top left of the picture covers the first letter so it reads Laughter on the Khyber Pass.

  70. 70.

    Steeplejack

    @JGabriel, @Mike J:

    Eh, Slaughter is a big-deal surname in Texas.

    Patriarch George Webb Slaughter (1811-1895), “Baptist minister, rancher, cattle breeder and drover.”

    Son C.C. Slaughter (1837-1919), “the Cattle King of Texas.”

    Other son John Bunyan Slaughter (1848-1928), also a big-deal rancher.

    And other siblings and descendants.

    And “big deal” ranchers like in the 40,000-acre range.

  73. 73.

    I'll be Frank

    Hurrah, only one more bomb, the one found at the FedEx station near the Austin airport. It was found because FedEx identified it as having been sent by the same sender as the bomb that went off at the FedEx station north of San Antonio.

  78. 78.

    Baud

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: It started just before I got the Oreo update and has continued since then. Some other folks online were saying they were having the same problem. Some bug must have gotten into the system. Hopefully, Samsung will fix it in their upcoming security update.

  82. 82.

    Adam L Silverman

    @lamh36: They could, but it is more likely this is a copycat out to cause trouble and taking advantage of the Austin and national media being primed to respond.

  85. 85.

    Adam L Silverman

    Ruh Roh!

  90. 90.

    Adam L Silverman

    @TenguPhule: It isn’t great news, but it is better than the bomber appears to be decompensating and is now just randomly targeting locations around Austin.

  91. 91.

    Gelfling 545

    @JGabriel: A fine woman of that name passed just a few days ago. I would not be averse to see her honored by the naming of a street, building, school, etc.

  92. 92.

    lamh36

    @Adam L Silverman: My problem is I watch entirely too many shows like Law & Order: SVU and esp Criminal Minds…I even find myself calling suspected perpertratiors “Un-subs” like they do on Criminal Minds…

    So it’s great to hear reasoned real world possiblities…

  98. 98.

    Aleta

    @Adam L Silverman: Do you know what setting on your MacBook stops the autoplay? Mine (OS Sierra, Safari) restarts play whenever I post comment or when the page refreshes. Thx.

  100. 100.

    Czanne

    @raven: No, that’s not what I said. You do realize that bombers play the odds, right? If they know someone (be it person, unit) has a routine, they’ll take advantage.That’s been insurgent response since… at least 1916. They sometimes get it wrong. Especially true when they’re starting a push.

  101. 101.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Aleta: I took criminology, not forensics. And when I was till a professor I taught criminology, not forensics. So no. I’m generally aware of the physiological tells, from where someone looks when lying (supposedly down and left) to micro expressions to galvanic skin responses to changes in pitch, timber, and tone of voice. But that’s it. I never studied the research behind it. I do know that polygraphs aren’t really lie detectors and that a lot of people think that voice stress analysis is a better technological solutions.

  107. 107.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Aleta: I do not. I am using Chrome, so I think I’ve got the new autoplay stopping plug in plugged in.

  109. 109.

    trollhattan

    @efgoldman:
    Love that now the UK are investigating FB and CA the whole affair is off and running where Trump and the Republicans can’t halt it. Next up, interference with Brexit vote (my SWAG).

  113. 113.

    Aleta

    @rikyrah: My guess is white supre mac ist terrorists. Because of the incidents with them at UT in Austin, and the grand jury in Austin who had been deciding whether to indict racist law enforcement. (They did indict, though the first two bombs were before their decision came.) And because WS groups advocate murder and race war; the a – o – w —- n alone have committed at least five, and because that group has been expanding, incl. in Texas.

    At least 43 white supre mac ist hate groups in Texas cities. The racist attacks by T and Bannon and attacks on civil rights everywhere.

    Yesterday we interviewed a woman from the Middle East, a cyber security researcher working in Texas who is changing jobs to get out of there. She spoke openly about the racism there, and about T. I hope she accepts. Her country is repressive, and she said that she recognizes similar signs of development in the US.

  119. 119.

    chuckInAustin

    @Baud: good question. The thought of a copycat would make things much worse. Imagine teenagers leaving unmarked boxes on porches.

  120. 120.

    chuckInAustin

    Back from rehearsal. The anxiety is really taking hold in the city. Today an expected package for my wife arrived, but it was an unusually large box. My son and I got home about the same time and just stared at it. He looked at me with a questioning look and I just said, ‘I’m not going to open it.’
    I knew it was an expected delivery, but still. (My wife confirmed the tracking number and return address, so we were good then.)
    I can’t begin to describe the size of the response by APD, ATF and FBI. I’ve never seen that many emergency vehicles on a call. There had to be at least 40-60 units responding. They aren’t fking around. I have no inside information, but I just can’t believe this will go unsolved for long.

  122. 122.

    Cermet

    Well, looks like the bomber is dead by his own ‘devices’ (i.e. blew himself up; lol) Still, the media and Gov will not call the terrorist (which he is) by that name since he is white and likely christian.

  123. 123.

    AnonPhenom

    @Mnemosyne:

    True to form, the gun nuts are now saying that we can’t do anything about guns until we figure out how to stop mail bombers.

    “Newsflash Brit!!!
    This just in… A spokesperson for seasonal flu has called for a end to the flu vaccine until a cure for cancers is found first!”

    Those kids marching must be wondering when they’re going to get to see that ‘grown-up discussion‘ everyone’s been telling them they need to shut up and listen to.

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