Austin bombings suspect dead: US media


FE Team | Published: March 21, 2018 16:01:18 | Updated: March 22, 2018 18:51:48


FBI agents walk towards a crime scene on Mission Oaks Boulevard following an explosion in Austin, Texas, US on March 19. Reuters/File Photo

A suspect linked with a series of deadly parcel bombs targeting Austin, Texas, is dead after a major police operation, US media report.

The suspect was killed after reportedly detonating a device off an interstate highway in an area in the north of the city, according to CBS News.

FBI agents are reportedly now carrying out an investigation at the scene.

The incident follows four bomb attacks in Austin and one in Schertz, 65 miles (104km) south of the state capital.

CCTV images of a "person of interest" were earlier shared on US media showing a white male with blond hair carrying a number of large packages.

The Austin police department is expected to give a media briefing soon, reports BBC.

Authorities earlier said that a series of blasts that began in Austin in early March - involving package bombs and a tripwire - were all related:

2 March: A device explodes at Anthony Stephan House's home in Austin, killing the 29-year-old man

13 March: Draylen William Mason, 17, is killed and his mother is critically injured after he brings a package inside his home from the doorstep in Austin

13 March: Hours later, a 75-year-old Hispanic woman, who has not been named, is injured by another package in the state capital

18 March: A device injures two men who may have set off a tripwire while walking along a street in Austin

20 March: A parcel bomb explodes at a FedEx depot in Schertz, slightly injuring one person. Police said the parcel had been due to be shipped to Austin

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that "a very, very sick individual, or maybe individuals" carried out those blasts and pledged justice for the victims.

The city has been on edge amid the attacks, and hundreds of police have been deployed to the area to investigate.

 

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