A bomb scare in Southwest Austin caused quite a commotion Tuesday afternoon after a reported explosive device turned out to be a hoax, leading to the detention of one man and an all-clear from the Austin Police Department. The panic began when a man, who found what he believed to be a bomb, notified a delivery driver, prompting a swift 911 call and subsequent response by the APD Bomb Squad to the 4800 block of Republic of Texas Boulevard, close to the site of a 2018 bombing incident, according to KXAN.
Responding personnel included APD, AFD, and EMS who quickly worked to contain the situation and sent a reverse 911 call to residents in the vicinity, with Corporal Jose Mendez telling reporters the device looked to be a "rectangular object about 7 to 9 inches long with two batteries attached," but after investigation, authorities determined the object was not an explosive device, and they gave the "all clear" around 3:45 p.m. although the man who reported it was detained and questioned by police, his involvement remained uncertain, Mendez explained in a media briefing, as per KXAN.
The investigation of the device also involved the seizure of two bags, one found on the road and another in a nearby wooded area, but no arrests were made or charges filed at the time of the incident, as reported by the Austin American Statesman. The false alarm coincided with the sixth anniversary of the Austin bombings, a series of incidents that claimed two lives and left six individuals wounded back in 2018, with this week's threat occurring a mere block away from one of those previous locations.
