Monday, April 20

Five explosions to hit the US state: Texas serial bombing suspect dead after tracked down


 

 

The Texas serial bombing suspect has been killed after being tracked down by police, according to US media reports.

Two people were killed in five explosions to hit the US state this month. Local media reported the suspect was tracked down by the FBI and police in Round Rock, near Austin.

He killed himself using an explosive device, a law enforcement official told the Austin Statesman newspaper. Anthony Stephan House and Draylen Mason died in the explosions

There were also reports of gunfire with police.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives confirmed it was at the scene of the individual suspected in the package bomb murders on the I-35 highway.

The suspect was identified in the last 24 hours after shipping an explosive device from a FedEx store in the Texas capital, the Austin Statesman said.

A string of bombings over the past two weeks killed African-American men Anthony Stephan House, 39, and Draylen Mason, 17, and injured a number of other people.

Mr House died at his home in the first attack on 2 March.

Mr Mason was killed and his mother critically injured in a blast on 13 March after a package was left on his doorstep.

Hours later, a 75-year-old Hispanic woman was critically injured after another package exploded in Austin.

On Sunday, two men, aged 22 and 23, were seriously injured in an explosion involving a tripwire device.

In the early hours of Tuesday, a FedEx worker was hurt after a package bound for Austin containing nails and shrapnel blew up at a distribution centre in the San Antonio town of Schertz.

Later that day, another explosive package was intercepted before going off at a FedEx facility outside Austin airport.

US president Donald Trump branded the person behind the attacks a very sick individual, or maybe individuals.

A sixth explosion in Texas on Tuesday night was not linked to the previous incidents.