Investigators Investigating Suspicious Package at Austin FedEx Facility

Austin police and fire officials are investigating a “suspicious package” at a FedEx Ground facility near the city’s main airport. Fire officials reported sending a hazmat team.

UPDATE 12:15 p.m.: An Austin Police Department spokeswoman Destiny Winston told reporters on Tuesday afternoon that bomb squad officers and federal agency partners responded to the suspicious package call out of an abundance of precaution. She would not confirm if an unexploded explosive device had been found or if there was any linkage to the package that exploded at the FedEx facility in Schertz, Texas, early Tuesday morning.

Winston would not release any details about what made the package “suspicious” or in what part of the facility the package was found. She was asked about the possibility of a controlled detonation of the suspicious package and responded that she had no information about that.

Interim Police Chief Brian Manley was not present at the press conference. Nor were any FBI or ATF officials.

No details about the suspicious package were released.

Austin Police providing briefing regarding suspicious package found at 4117 McKinney Falls Parkway. https://t.co/QzcXIB6Y6D

— Austin Police Dept (@Austin_Police) March 20, 2018

UPDATE 11:57 a.m.: Austin resident Joe Biggs tweeted that officials are about to conduct a “controlled detonation” near his home which is located close to the FedEx Ground facility where fire and police officials responded to a “suspicious package” call on Tuesday morning.

Control detonation supposed to happen at fedex by my place #AustinBombings pic.twitter.com/JdIwgsKlZl

— Joe Biggs (@Rambobiggs) March 20, 2018

ORIGINAL STORY FOLLOWS:

A call came in reporting the suspicious package shortly after 6 a.m. Tuesday morning. Austin Fire Department officials tweeted a message at 8:24 a.m. that they sent a hazmat team to the facility to assist the Austin Police Department and Austin-Travis County EMS (ATCEMS) with the investigation.

Re Haz Mat Investigation at 4107 McKinney Falls Rd Fed Ex. Austin Fire and @ATCEMS are assisting @Austin_Police with suspicious package. Austin PD is lead for media.

— Austin Fire Info (@AustinFireInfo) March 20, 2018

A short time later, the police department tweeted they were sending a public information officer to the scene.

APD PIO is en route to this call (incident number: 180790317). https://t.co/oOEtoELuSg

— Austin Police Dept (@Austin_Police) March 20, 2018

Officials at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, which is located a few blocks from the FedEx facility, stated that airport operations are not impacted, the Austin-American Statesman reported.

The Austin FedEx investigation follows closely, the investigation into an explosion at the FedEx facility in Schertz, Texas, near San Antonio, Breitbart Texas reported. One woman was slightly injured and EMS treated her at the scene. The package is reported to have an Austin address. Officials said  “it’s more than possible” that this explosion is connected to the four bombs that have exploded in the Austin area this month. Those bombs killed two people and injured four others.

Officials told reporters that a medium size package exploded inside the sorting facility in Schertz. There were about 75 people inside at the time of the explosion that occurred shortly after midnight Tuesday morning, KENS CBS5 reported.