AUSTIN, Texas – The Latest on serial bombings in Texas (all times local):
3:45 p.m.
FedEx says it has turned over “extensive evidence” to authorities after a package exploded at its processing center in the town of Schertz, south of Austin.
In a statement, the company says “the individual responsible” for sending the package that blew up also shipped a second package that has been secured and turned over to law enforcement.
FedEx says it gave authorities evidence “related to these packages and the individual that shipped them collected from our advanced technology security systems.”
A company spokeswoman subsequently refused to say if that second package might have been linked to a suspicious package that authorities seized at another FedEx shipping facility on Tuesday, this one in south Austin, near the city’s airport.
No arrests have been made in the five bombings that have rocked the Austin area since March 2.
3:25 p.m.
The chairman of the U.S. House Homeland Security committee says he thinks the latest package explosion in Texas will lead to more evidence, “hopefully fingerprints and surveillance photos.”
Congressman Michael McCaul, a Republican from Texas, made the comments Tuesday at a White House roundtable discussion on so-called sanctuary cities. It’s not clear whether McCaul was speaking with knowledge of specific information in the case.
McCaul also thanked President Donald Trump for sending 500 federal agents to Austin “to find this perpetrator and bring him to justice.”
A package exploded early Tuesday at a FedEx distribution center near San Antonio. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says the package was sent from Austin and was addressed to a home in Austin.
Four other package bombs have exploded in Austin since March 2.
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3:10 p.m.
An employee at a FedEx center in Austin says managers ordered workers outside before sunrise after a suspicious package showed up.
Bryan Jaimes told reporters Tuesday he estimates there were about 60 people working at the facility near the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport when the building was cleared out.
The 19-year-old package handler says workers left calmly and that he’s glad he made it out safe. He returned to the center hours later hoping to be allowed back in to get his car and phone. The facility remains closed.
Jaimes says he never received new guidance from managers about handling packages as Austin authorities look for what they’ve called a “serial bomber.” He said his job is to load the trucks.
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