APD responds to more than 1,200 suspicious package calls

AUSTIN, Texas - Residents near the first three explosion sites are now in constant fear for their safety, calling 911 if something doesn't look right. They don't want to take any chances.

Since the first incident on March 2nd, police have received 1,257 calls regarding suspicious packages. In each one of those cases, officers have gone out to make sure there is no threat. 

There have been four explosions within a month.

Residents across Austin are in fear, not knowing who's next. Patricia Cannon called 911 Monday.

"I just pull in the driveway and my eyes just automatically go to the front door. I look and there's a package at the doorstep. It’s just right directly in front of the door so I just don't want to take any chances,” says Cannon.

Cannon waited down the street in her car until officers came to her home. They checked out the package, then gave her the all clear. She lives near the second explosion site which happened March 12th. A package was reportedly left at the front doorstep of a home on Oldfort Hill Drive. When it was brought inside, it went off. The explosion killed 17-year old Draylen Mason and sent his mother to the hospital. That neighborhood and others arent the same.

"We have to look around everywhere we are now. I have little kids, so we just watch our step everywhere we go. Just looking at the ground basically. gotta teach your kids about guns in schools and bombs in doorways."

Ambrosia Ybarra lives on Galindo Street, where the third incident happened, also on Mar. 12th. Seventy-five year-old Esperanza Herrera was critically injured after police say the package left on her front doorstep detonated. People were cleaning the home Monday and family says they will soon be ready to give a statement. While FOX 7 was there, a neighbor called 911. He told police he saw a suspicious vehicle and package dropped off. In that situation, police say there was no threat.

“This isn't the America I grew up in. It's like a third-world country,” says Ybarra.
Since the first package explosion on March 2nd, people have become even more terrified. That incident killed 39-year-old Anthony House. 

Police say on Monday, they responded to at least 83 calls regarding suspicious packages.