Suspect behind spate of deadly Austin bombings is dead, US media reports
Updated
The suspect in a series of blasts that have killed two people and seriously injured four others in Austin, Texas, is dead, CBS News reports.
Reports said police had been chasing the suspect, who detonated a device and was killed.
The Austin police chief said a serial bombing suspect set off a bomb as a SWAT team was closing in.
A police officer involved suffered a minor injury during the incident.
Austin Police Department said it was working on an "Officer Involved Shooting".
The four explosions in Austin in recent weeks were believed to be the work of the serial bomber.
Investigators had been looking into whether race was a factor in the parcel bombings.
The first of the four explosions was caused by a package bomb that detonated at a north-eastern Austin home on March 2, killing 39-year-old black man Anthony Stephan House.
Two other package bombs exploded further south on March 12. The first killed a 17-year-old and wounded his mother, they were both black, and the second injured a 75-year-old Hispanic woman.
Police believe the second bomb may have been intended for a black family's home, raising the possibility they were a hate crime.
The fourth blast was a roadside bomb that was triggered by a tripwire — a higher level of sophistication than the previous attacks.
In the first three cases police said the packages did not appear to have gone through the US Postal Service or private carriers like UPS, but were left on doorsteps without a knock or ringing of doorbells.
Police were investigating whether a parcel bombing at a FedEx facility on Tuesday morning (local time) was linked to the four other bombings.
An employee was injured at the facility near San Antonio about 1:00am, while a second unexploded bomb was also found at the same facility.
The homemade bomb was bound for Austin.
Police responded to another explosion in Austin on Tuesday evening (local time) at a goodwill store in the southern part of the city.
Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services tweeted that a man in his 30s was injured but was expected to survive.
It was the sixth explosion in the Austin area since March 2 but police did not believe the latest incident was linked to the other bombings.
ABC/AP
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, police, united-states
First posted
