Mysterious ‘device' explodes on Austin front porch, killing man in his 40's
Monica Sledge was playing with her two-year-old Friday morning when she heard a loud noise...something even deeper than a blown transformer.
“It was just a really loud, deep boom and it shook the windows and I just kind of freaked out, picked up my son and went the opposite direction,” Sledge said
Sledge and others in the neighborhood called 911 around 7 Friday morning.
“The callers were reporting an explosion and they also reported that there was a victim that appeared to have traumatic injuries as well,” said Austin Police Chief Brian Manley.
Austin Travis County EMS say they took a man in his 40’s to a Round Rock hospital. Austin Police Chief Brian Manley says the victim died shortly after.
The blast happened on the front porch of a home on Haverford Drive.
“What you’re seeing behind us is a very detailed investigation into that incident. What we know right now is some type of device exploded at this residence this morning,” Manley said.
The FBI and ATF along with Austin Police are investigating. Dogs were used to sweep the neighborhood making sure the area was safe and no evidence escaped from the blast zone.
“I thought there was a possibility it could be a drug-related thing but I didn’t want to go there,” Sledge said. The FBI tells FOX 7 this wasn’t drugs.
“I know you all will ask whether this is terrorism-related. Again there’s no information that we have right now to believe this is anything other than an isolated incident but we’re working diligently to understand this incident and to understand why it had occurred,” Manley said.
A U.S. postal inspector was spotted on scene.
The question many in the neighborhood are asking...was this device delivered?
“We reach out to all of our providers that deliver mail to this area, both the U.S. Postal Service and those that do it privately because that is one of the things we want to know is was there a package delivered to this residence in the past several days?” Manley said.