AUSTIN — Hours after Austin police made a public appeal Sunday regarding deadly package explosions in the city this month, they were called to investigate yet another incident in a residential area that caused multiple injuries.
Two men in their 20s were injured Sunday in an explosion on the 4800 block of Dawn Song Dr. They were rushed to the hospital with serious, but non-life-threatening injuries, Austin-Travis County EMS officials said on Twitter. Early Monday, a spokeswoman for St. David’s South Austin Medical Center said the injured men were in good condition.
It is not yet clear whether the incident is related to three package explosions this month that claimed the lives of a 17-year-old high school student and a 39-year-old construction worker, and seriously injured a 75-year-old woman. The explosions have put the Texas community on edge and police continue to urge residents not to handle unexpected packages.
“Given the darkness, we have not really had the opportunity to really look at this blast site to determine what has happened,” interim Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said at a news conference late Sunday. “It’s obvious there’s been an explosion; it’s obvious it caused significant injures to two people, and it is important right now for anyone in the neighborhood behind us to remain inside and give us time to work through this.”
Police have not said whether Sunday’s explosion was caused by a package bomb. Authorities asked residents to stay in their homes as officers continue to sweep the area, a process Manley said would likely last past dawn. He said officers were working to clear a backpack left in the area. The FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were also on the scene.
Sunday’s explosion occurred in southwest Austin. The previous explosions happened in the eastern side of the city.
Steve Brown, 53, had gone out to dinner Sunday and was returning home when they saw the police tape. “It’s kind of surreal,” he said. “It had been on the other side of town — now it’s on our street.”
Sunday was the final day of the South By Southwest festival, which has attracted hundreds of thousands of people to the city for more than a week. On Saturday, the Roots concert was canceled after the venue received a bomb threat, authorities said. Police later arrested a 26-year-old Trevor Weldon Ingram in connection with the threat.
Police have said they don’t think the festival has anything to do with the explosions.
When the first explosion happened on March 2, killing Anthony Stephan House, police thought it was an “isolated incident.” Ten days later, however, two more package bombs exploded.
One killed Draylen Mason, a high school senior well known for his love of music, playing everything from funk to mariachi to classical music. The second bomb that day critically wounded Esperanza Herrera, who was visiting at her mother’s house where the package was delivered. n Officials familiar with the case told The Post that the package was addressed to a different home, further puzzling investigators.
In investigation a possible connection between the victims authorities discovered House and Mason had relatives were friends. House’s stepfather, Freddie Dixon, told The Post last week that he was close to Mason’s grandfather, Norman Mason. They were fraternity brothers, and Norman Mason also attended the church where Dixon was once a pastor, Dixon said.
He said he did not think the connection was a coincidence.
“Somebody’s done their homework on both of us, and they knew what they were doing,” he said, adding that he believed the explosions were possibly a hate crime or the result of a vendetta.
There is no known connection between Herrera and the other victims, authorities said.
Manley said that more than 500 officers, including from the FBI and ATF, have followed up on 435 leads and have conducted 236 interviews. None have resulted in a suspect so far.
Earlier Sunday, the Austin Police Department announced it had increased the reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the first three explosions to $100,000. An additional $15,000 reward was announced earlier by Gov. Greg Abbot (R).
Flynn reported from Washington. Moravec reported from Austin.
More about the Austin explosions:
‘Who did this and why?’: Austin remains tense after deadly bombings as police look for answers
Austin police search for bombing motive, say explosives made with ‘skill and sophistication’
