HomeBomber who horrifies the U.S. for weeks is dead

Bomber who horrifies the U.S. for weeks is dead

March 22, 2018 | by Junie Sihlangu

An unidentified suspect in the Texas bombings has killed himself with a bomb. This occurred when police were closing in on him.

The incident occurred on March 21, 2018, in the early hours of the morning according to CNN. He killed himself in his car when police tried to apprehend him.

On March 2, 2018, the bombings started in Austin causing investigators to frantically search for clues. They even called the attacks the work of a "serial bomber" who continuously changed tactics.

The bombings killed two people and left the Texas capital terrorized with fear for 19 days. In the past 36 hours, law enforcement had received information directing them to a person of interest.

The person who became a suspect had surveillance teams tracking his vehicle to a hotel, Red Roof Inn, in Round Rock, north of Austin. As police waited on tactical units, the vehicle attempted to leave the hotel and police confronted him on a frontage road leading on to the I-35 highway.

SWAT approached the vehicle and the suspect detonated a bomb. The suspect, who was a 24-year-old white man, killed himself and knocked back and injured a SWAT member.

 

‘Austin bombing suspect is dead. Great job by law enforcement and all concerned!’

President Donald Trump, Twitter, March 21, 2018

A SWAT officer fired his weapon at the suspect but it's unclear whether the officer managed to shoot the suspect. Authorities don't know at the moment whether he acted alone or what his motive was.

The man was responsible for all the incidents in Austin according to Austin Police Chief Brian Manley.

"This is the culmination of three very long weeks in our community," Manley said. He urged residents to be vigilant, saying they didn't know where the bomber had been for the past 24 hours and if he had sent additional packages.

In the most recent explosion before the suspect's death, a package exploded at a FedEx sorting center near San Antonio early on Tuesday. A second unexploded bomb was discovered on the same day at another FedEx facility near Austin.

The two packages were connected to four previous bombings that left two people dead. FedEx said the person who sent the package that exploded on Tuesday had also shipped a second one that was turned over to law enforcement officials.

Authorities were given extensive evidence from the courier company’s security system on the packages and the person who shipped them. According to Police Chief Michael Hansen, in the incident near San Antonio, the device detonated on an automatic conveyor.

A female employee was treated on site and released. A possible explosion that was reported Tuesday night at a Goodwill store in Austin turned out to be unrelated.

In that incident, an employee was injured by two "artillery simulators" in a donation box, according to Ely Reyes, Austin's assistant police chief. The employee was treated and released from a hospital.

The bomber's death came just hours after CBS published CCTV footage showing the suspect at a FedEx office in the south of the city. The images showed a man wearing a disguise, delivering two packages to the store at around 7.30pm on Sunday according to Daily Mail.

Investigators checked the cameras at the facilities from Tuesday's incidents. At the time they believed the same person was behind all the devices that had a lot of consistencies.

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