#Breaking #AustinPolice is responding to a reported explosion in 9600 block of Brodie Ln in south Austin. Please avoid the area. APD PIO en route.
— Austin Police Dept (@Austin_Police) March 21, 2018
FINAL Multiple assets #ATCEMS @AustinFireInfo @Austin_Police on scene Brodie Ln/W Slaughter Ln (1902) reported explosion: #ATCEMSMedics transported ~30s male with potentially serious, not expected to be life threatening, injuries to St Davids South Austin. No further info avail.
— ATCEMS (@ATCEMS) March 21, 2018
Provided this is the same perpetrator for all the bombings, or at least all the parcel/package bombs, then he (it is most likely a he) is rapidly moving through his escalation cycle.
From CBS Austin:
AUSTIN, Tex. (KEYE) — A new explosion has been reported in South Austin, hours after explosive packages were found at FedEx facilities in Schertz and near the Austin airport — and four other explosions over the past several weeks have left two dead and four others injured.
According to Austin-Travis County EMS, the latest reported incident happened at around 7 p.m. near the intersection of Brodie and West Slaughter Lanes.
The Austin Fire Department is reporting the explosion happened at a Goodwill location.
A man in his 30s was transported to St. David’s South Austin Medical Center with potentially serious, but not life-threatening injuries.
Reaction from the Austin American Statesman breaking news editor who lives near the most recent bombing:
Bomb went off at goodwill store behind my house around 7 pm; standing in field next to my house with my dog; police helicopter is circling overhead; people keep driving down my street trying to bypass blocked traffic; I know I’m a grizzled journalist but I’m a little shook up tbh
— Roberto Villalpando (@daddyrobot) March 21, 2018
And it appears this may have been a two for, which is often used to lure law enforcement and emergency services in with the first device and then attack them with the second.
BREAKING: Authorities tell me that they think there is a second device at location in South Austin based on preliminary information
— Tony Plohetski (@tplohetski) March 21, 2018
I’m working with Alain to try to embed the live feed from CBS Austin, as soon as I can I’ll update.
If you receive a package that you did not order, that does not appear to have normal delivery markings, that appears to be discolored or misshapen, or that seems suspicious: call the authorities. This type of very public type of serial killing will inspire copycats. Better safe than sorry.
Update at 9:15 PM EDT
Here’s the live feed from KXAN Austin:
Updated at 9:25 PM EDT
We have some good news:
#UPDATE: There was no package explosion in the 9800 block of Brodie Ln. Items inside package was not a bomb, rather an incendiary device. At this time, we have no reason to believe this incident is related to previous package bombs. #Breaking #packagebombmurders
— Austin Police Dept (@Austin_Police) March 21, 2018
Looks to be a low grade copycat.
Stay frosty!
Open thread.
rikyrah
Yet, Dolt45 doesn’t consider it terrorism ?
Baud
@rikyrah: It’s good if he ignores it. He’d claim it was Muslims or BLM or MS-13 without any evidence.
Mnemosyne
True to form, the gun nuts are now saying that we can’t do anything about guns until we figure out how to stop mail bombers. ?
TenguPhule
@Baud:
Its not good that this is now expected behavior from the executive branch.
TenguPhule
@Mnemosyne:
And of course it will turn out the bomber owns guns.
Baud
@TenguPhule: Yes it is, as long as Trump is president.
TenguPhule
I felt safer in President Obama’s America. I really did.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Mnemosyne:
You know, the only thing that is going to stop a bad guy with a bomb is a good guy with a bomb.
Isn’t that the RWNJ POV?
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Mnemosyne:
Only a good guy with a mail bomb can stop a bad guy with a mail bomb
Shit, West of the Rockies beat me to it!
Mike J
I hope Goodwill had a camera on the door.
chuckInAustin
Holy crap, this one is even closer to me than the last one. Early reports are that an employee was looking in the donation box. They are suspicious of another device in the area. I just saw video of the street (a very busy street, major SW Austin traffic artery.) and there is an army of LE vehicles.
I can’t believe they aren’t zeroing in on whoever did it. So many explosions. I can’t believe there is not some surveillance video somewhere.
I’ll check back in after band rehearsal. (Yeah, I live in Austin and I’m in a band, fking cliche really.)
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: Based on the first three targets, my professional estimation was it was either 1) someone from within the Austin African American community who was targeting affluent, notable, and/or elite members of that community out of an objective and/or subjective grievance or 2) someone from outside the Austin African American community who was targeting affluent, notable, and/or elite members of that community. The fourth attack was just weird. Either the bomber was trying to throw off investigators by changing his targeting and tactics or something else is going on. I’ve not seen anything yet about who the packages from the FedEx facility were addressed to, so the FedEx employee who got injured doesn’t help with victimology analysis. And I’m not sure the bombs at a Goodwill store will either, unless someone there is tied to one of the three original intended victims (remember victim 3 was not the intended target of the third bomb, the parcel was left at the wrong house).
So as a criminologist who is also a subject matter expert on terrorism, I’m not sure we have enough yet to call this anything other than serial murder via bomb. Or attempted serial murder via bomb.
Baud
@Mnemosyne:
Fewer people have died in Austin than at Stoneman Douglas alone.
efgoldman
@TenguPhule:
When bombs are outlawed only outlaws will have bombs.
Adam L Silverman
@chuckInAustin: I’m trying to get the CBS Austin live feed embedded.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
Two bombs and a school shooting. This day kind of sucks.
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman:
Like that’s gonna stop the cable news 24 hr speculation orgy.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@TenguPhule:
Yeah, now every day it seems like a fresh new horror is there to greet me in the morning and I worry about the country turning into a one-party authoritarian state. I never imagined that happening two or three years ago. I thought the US had the stronger hand compared to the EU, for example.
raven
@Adam L Silverman: My lay analysis to a T.
TenguPhule
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
We had superior firepower. That’s about it.
They didn’t go through 2 world wars without learning some valuable lessons.
Sadly, history and civics became optional in our nation.
Adam L Silverman
@raven: Sorry I forgot to put a post up about that last week. I got busy and it slipped with all the other stuff going on.
satby
@Mike J: Almost all Goodwill stores normally have security cameras outside, but whether it recorded anybody depends on how far the donation box was from the building and if a camera was pointed that way. They’re usually aimed at the doors and windows.
Stan W. Baker
For those of you who survived Austin, somehow, but can’t be bothered …
The first bomb was about a mile East-Southeast of the Walmart at Parmer and I-35, which you will note is a gentrification proof area near Pflugerville. The next was at the amazingly, resiliently tax-proof Springdale at 51st, another majority non-white area. Montopolis, similarly resilient and non-white despite every effort over the last 20 years (The Metropolis, anyone?) Then 290 at Mopac, but designed to hit pedestrians and who else has the unmitigated gall to WALK in “Our Austin”?
And now in front of the Goodwill, of all places, at Brodie and Slaughter, although miles away considered much the same “neighborhood” as 290 at Mopac. In a city that let building after building burn downtown with not so much as an investigation by the fire department in the late 90s because the tenants were undesirable.
I hear you, Austin. That’s why I moved the hell out in 2015.
raven
@Adam L Silverman: What?
chuckInAustin
explosion may not related to others.
Patricia Kayden
@TenguPhule: We were safer in Obama’s America. We’re now in Putin’s Puppet territory.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@TenguPhule:
I remember hearing the US economy was stronger than the EU’s. Also, neofascism seemed to be gaining a foothold there and I believed that the US could hold out against that; a beacon of hope and liberty..That was around 2014-2016 before the horrors of Trump and the GOP’s (further) turn towards authoritarianism.
For the record, I still think the US will come out of this.
raven
@Stan W. Baker: That’s a pretty confusing post there bubba.
Baud
@chuckInAustin: Is that a relief or is it worse?
Steeplejack
The thought just came to me earlier today: this episode begins to feel like the D.C. sniper attacks of 2002.
lamh36
raven
@Baud: It MAY not be a lot of shit.
raven
@Steeplejack: Yea, the MSNBC terrorism dude was all over that.
TenguPhule
@Steeplejack: Plus the anthrax mailings.
TenguPhule
@lamh36: Fucking copycat bomber.
JGabriel
Seriously, Town Planning Board Members, wherever you are: Don’t ever give a street the name of Slaughter.
Baud
@lamh36:
Yay!
Adam L Silverman
@raven: More seriously, the real issue here is he appears to be moving through his escalation cycle very, very rapidly.
Adam L Silverman
We have a live feed, care of Alain.
Mike J
@JGabriel:
Probably the last name of subdivision developer, or someone he wanted to suck up to.
chris
@Steeplejack: Yes, me too.
raven
@JGabriel: Unless Enos “Country” is a home boy.
mad citizen
@Adam L Silverman: “1) someone from within the Austin African American community who was targeting affluent, notable, and/or elite members of that community out of an objective and/or subjective grievance or 2) someone from outside the Austin African American community who was targeting affluent, notable, and/or elite members of that community. ”
Isn’t this set everybody?
Steeplejack
@Mnemosyne:
Only a good guy with a package can stop a bad guy with a package?
When I lived in Atlanta I had a friend who worked at UPS, and she said one of the employees’ running jokes was about someone “going parcel” during the hectic Christmas season.
Baud
@mad citizen: It’s why he’s never wrong.
Czanne
@Adam L Silverman: Need to know who lived on the block where the tripwire one went off. Who walked their dog or took an evening stroll. They’re not random.
But I now expect the pattern to change. The boxes will get better camouflage (fake but legit looking shipping labels, use USPS/UPS/FedEx free boxes or recycled Amazon boxes with top tape intact) into public but obscured places, like trash cans, donation drops, some park and playground equipment. Not because they don’t have targets left – they probably do – but because chaff matters.
My gut says they’re targeting generosity.
TenguPhule
@mad citizen:
Almost.
We can probably rule out Japan and the EU.
raven
@Mike J:
Czanne
@JGabriel: OTish, but yes, I did once have reason to repeatedly visit a subdivision where the street names were devastating battles. Antietam, Agincourt, Normandy, Gettysburg… yeah.
efgoldman
@Adam L Silverman:
Fucking thing is autoplay. Starts every time I click on the thread.
Holaitsmonica
@efgoldman: bombs don’t kill people, people kill people…
raven
@Czanne: Yea, and @Czanne: Yea, the bomber KNEW exactly when two guys on bikes would be there.
please
TenguPhule
@Holaitsmonica:
But guns and bombs make it so much easier for them.
lamh36
I’m thinking the “at this time” is the most important part of the statement? So not definitive that it’s related to the others?
My question…why couldn’t/wouldn’t the bomber be able to vary their pattern when they know maybe the press and PD have noticed one?
Chyron HR
I can’t begin to express what a relief it is to be freed from the yoke of the “neoliberal status quo” we had from 2009-2016.
Adam L Silverman
@raven: The anniversary of the Mai Lai massacre. I was playing off of my lay to Mai Lai.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Czanne:
What a truly fucked up mind the bomber must have if this is his motivation. The bombs are bad enough by themselves.
Adam L Silverman
Good news!
TenguPhule
@lamh36:
My understanding is that once bombers figure out how to make a bomb a certain way, they tend to stick to it as proven to work rather then risk blowing themselves up by trying something radically new. Its how they track experienced bombers with a history. So the bomber can change disbersement methods, but not the actual guts of the bombs themselves.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@efgoldman: Worse yet, it annoys my cocker spaniel.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Chyron HR:
Don’t you mean 1932-2016?
raven
Willie Peter make you a believer. . .
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman: No Sarcasm tag?
raven
@Adam L Silverman: Whew, got it!
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
I haven’t seen so many consecutive bombs since Adam Sandler started making movies.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Hey, Click was pretty good.
Adam L Silverman
@mad citizen: No, it is two different potential motivations for the crime. The first would be an in group dispute – real or imagined or a combination. The latter would be someone from out of the group, so likely not African American, deciding to target affluent, elite, and/or notable members of the Austin African American community to terrorize the entire Austin African American community, as well as African Americans in other parts of the US.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Do you use Location SmartLock on your Note? The one on my S8 has stopped working consistently.
NotMax
@raven
Just an aside. There’s a movie called Slaughter on the Khyber Pass. Happened to see it listed on Amazon Prime. (One description I saw called it a paella Western – the Spanish equivalent of a spaghetti Western – set in what was then India.)
Anyhoo, the “Prime” banner sitting diagonally at the top left of the picture covers the first letter so it reads Laughter on the Khyber Pass.
Steeplejack
@JGabriel, @Mike J:
Eh, Slaughter is a big-deal surname in Texas.
Patriarch George Webb Slaughter (1811-1895), “Baptist minister, rancher, cattle breeder and drover.”
Son C.C. Slaughter (1837-1919), “the Cattle King of Texas.”
Other son John Bunyan Slaughter (1848-1928), also a big-deal rancher.
And other siblings and descendants.
And “big deal” ranchers like in the 40,000-acre range.
Redshift
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
And it would do no good to outlaw bombs, because criminals will just ignore them and only law-abiding bomb owners will suffer.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
I'll be Frank
Hurrah, only one more bomb, the one found at the FedEx station near the Austin airport. It was found because FedEx identified it as having been sent by the same sender as the bomb that went off at the FedEx station north of San Antonio.
NotMax
@David Merry Christmas Koch
Remember the Blamamo.
/bad taste, too soon, etc.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: No, don’t use it. Madame’s S8 has problems with Smartthing’s proximity sensor, could be a location issue. Maybe the Oreo update will fix(or further break) it.
Adam L Silverman
@efgoldman: Sorry. Doesn’t do that on my MacBook or iPad.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Redshift:
That’s an argument I’ve heard and I’ve never had a good counter to it.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA: It started just before I got the Oreo update and has continued since then. Some other folks online were saying they were having the same problem. Some bug must have gotten into the system. Hopefully, Samsung will fix it in their upcoming security update.
Mandalay
@efgoldman:
If you use Chrome Silent Site Sound Blocker is your friend:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/silent-site-sound-blocker/hkbdhiphllimobjnfeeekaogfibmdgfe
TenguPhule
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: Point out that by that logic, murder, rape and robbery shouldn’t be considered crimes either, because obviously the law isn’t stopping criminals doing those either.
raven
@NotMax: I thought most spaghetti westerns were filmed in Spain.
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: They could, but it is more likely this is a copycat out to cause trouble and taking advantage of the Austin and national media being primed to respond.
Old Dan and Little Anne
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: That gave me a much needed laugh.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@TenguPhule:
“That isn’t the same thing”
Adam L Silverman
Ruh Roh!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman: It does it on Chrome on Win10.
Aleta
@Adam L Silverman: Did the criminology classes you took mention any physiological reaction patterns that are unique to deception?
Stan W. Baker
@mad citizen: Montopolis isn’t African-American, especially after the last decade when AA left Austin as if it was on fire.
B.B.A.
I recommend the police arrest every white dude in Texas, just to be safe.
Adam L Silverman
@TenguPhule: It isn’t great news, but it is better than the bomber appears to be decompensating and is now just randomly targeting locations around Austin.
Gelfling 545
@JGabriel: A fine woman of that name passed just a few days ago. I would not be averse to see her honored by the naming of a street, building, school, etc.
lamh36
@Adam L Silverman: My problem is I watch entirely too many shows like Law & Order: SVU and esp Criminal Minds…I even find myself calling suspected perpertratiors “Un-subs” like they do on Criminal Minds…
So it’s great to hear reasoned real world possiblities…
Adam L Silverman
@raven: Sorry to have been confusing.
Aleta
@Mnemosyne: NRA: Bombers could be stopped by giving them guns. Or something.
NotMax
@raven
This one is in Spanish, made by a Spanish director.
And purportedly not very good.
raven
@Adam L Silverman: Hell, I’m confused most of the time. We just finished “King of Marvin Gardens”. That’ll puzzle ya.
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: And a good time was had by all.
Aleta
@Adam L Silverman: Do you know what setting on your MacBook stops the autoplay? Mine (OS Sierra, Safari) restarts play whenever I post comment or when the page refreshes. Thx.
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
“I just flew in from Peshawar. And boy, are my arms tired!”
Czanne
@raven: No, that’s not what I said. You do realize that bombers play the odds, right? If they know someone (be it person, unit) has a routine, they’ll take advantage.That’s been insurgent response since… at least 1916. They sometimes get it wrong. Especially true when they’re starting a push.
Adam L Silverman
@Aleta: I took criminology, not forensics. And when I was till a professor I taught criminology, not forensics. So no. I’m generally aware of the physiological tells, from where someone looks when lying (supposedly down and left) to micro expressions to galvanic skin responses to changes in pitch, timber, and tone of voice. But that’s it. I never studied the research behind it. I do know that polygraphs aren’t really lie detectors and that a lot of people think that voice stress analysis is a better technological solutions.
Adam L Silverman
Ruh Roh Part II:
Adam L Silverman
@B.B.A.: That’s a lot of pale people.
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: Here’s everything you need to know, written for lay people, as to why behavioral profiling is pseudo-science and does not work:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/11/12/dangerous-minds
satby
@raven: Italy.
Adam L Silverman
@raven: No worries. And thanks, but I’ll pass.
Adam L Silverman
@Aleta: I do not. I am using Chrome, so I think I’ve got the new autoplay stopping plug in plugged in.
efgoldman
@Adam L Silverman:
Clooosing in….
Evil Spawn are next
Fuckem
trollhattan
@efgoldman:
Love that now the UK are investigating FB and CA the whole affair is off and running where Trump and the Republicans can’t halt it. Next up, interference with Brexit vote (my SWAG).
Adam L Silverman
@trollhattan: They’re already looking into the Brexit vote. I expect it will now pick up speed.
efgoldman
@trollhattan:
Her Majesty are not amused
Adam L Silverman
@efgoldman: Awf wif ‘er ‘ead!
Aleta
@rikyrah: My guess is white supre mac ist terrorists. Because of the incidents with them at UT in Austin, and the grand jury in Austin who had been deciding whether to indict racist law enforcement. (They did indict, though the first two bombs were before their decision came.) And because WS groups advocate murder and race war; the a – o – w —- n alone have committed at least five, and because that group has been expanding, incl. in Texas.
At least 43 white supre mac ist hate groups in Texas cities. The racist attacks by T and Bannon and attacks on civil rights everywhere.
Yesterday we interviewed a woman from the Middle East, a cyber security researcher working in Texas who is changing jobs to get out of there. She spoke openly about the racism there, and about T. I hope she accepts. Her country is repressive, and she said that she recognizes similar signs of development in the US.
Adam L Silverman
@Aleta: Let me know if you need a national security strategy and policy guy.
mad citizen
@Adam L Silverman: But, by definition, all humans are either inside or outside of the African American community. At least that’s how I was reading it.
debbie
@Aleta:
AdBlock took care of that for me.
Adam L Silverman
@Aleta: BettyC has fixed the autoplay issue. Feel free to thank her when you see her!
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
Initially read that as Betty C has fixed the autopsy issue.
Knew she was multi-talented, but still…
chuckInAustin
@Baud: good question. The thought of a copycat would make things much worse. Imagine teenagers leaving unmarked boxes on porches.
chuckInAustin
Back from rehearsal. The anxiety is really taking hold in the city. Today an expected package for my wife arrived, but it was an unusually large box. My son and I got home about the same time and just stared at it. He looked at me with a questioning look and I just said, ‘I’m not going to open it.’
I knew it was an expected delivery, but still. (My wife confirmed the tracking number and return address, so we were good then.)
I can’t begin to describe the size of the response by APD, ATF and FBI. I’ve never seen that many emergency vehicles on a call. There had to be at least 40-60 units responding. They aren’t fking around. I have no inside information, but I just can’t believe this will go unsolved for long.
Aleta
@debbie: That’s odd because I put adblock on and it didn’t stop it. It used to get rid of autoplay ads, but not this embedded autoplay. @Adam L Silverman: Thanks.
Cermet
Well, looks like the bomber is dead by his own ‘devices’ (i.e. blew himself up; lol) Still, the media and Gov will not call the terrorist (which he is) by that name since he is white and likely christian.
AnonPhenom
@Mnemosyne:
“Newsflash Brit!!!
This just in… A spokesperson for seasonal flu has called for a end to the flu vaccine until a cure for cancers is found first!”
Those kids marching must be wondering when they’re going to get to see that ‘grown-up discussion‘ everyone’s been telling them they need to shut up and listen to.