'Improvised Explosive Device' Found North of Austin

A homemade bomb was found earlier this week outside a business north of Austin, Texas.

A woman who works in the Springwood Business Complex on Pond Springs Road took her dog for a walk like she does every day when she noticed something near the dumpster in the back alley.

“Just to the side of it was this black-looking canister item,” the woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said. “It didn’t look alarming to me, it looked like trash. I considered picking it up and putting it in the dumpster. I feel very thankful that something told me not to.”

Another employee in the complex also noticed it and they called police. No more than a half hour later, hazmat crews and a bomb squad surrounded the dumpster.

“It looked like something that someone would have put together in their garage,” said Austin Fire Department Chief Arson Investigator Aaron Woolverton.

Chief Woolvertoon said they found a small container with a fuse.

“It’s an improvised explosive device. It’s homemade. Someone put proper components together and we’re waiting on laboratory analysis to confirm it but our suspicions are that yes, it was indeed an explosive device someone attempted to ignite behind the business,” he said.

Chief Woolverton said the suspects lit the bomb overnight after business hours and it self-diffused, still he worries the person who made it has bigger plans.

“It really reeks more of experimentation than someone trying to target or hurt somebody, but we don’t know that for sure,” he said. “For all we know it could be an experimentation designed to lead up to something that really is meant to hurt somebody.”

The Springwoods Business Complex is a small, single-level horseshoe-shaped modern red brick complex in the Jollyville section of north Austin. It has offices to accommodate around 30 or so small businesses, but is only about half occupied. Occupants include an after-school learning center, some tech firms and a law firm or two. It’s within a short walk of major thoroughfare I-183, but the explosive device was probably not large enough to disrupt traffic, and according to the story above, was set to detonate overnight. Or, they lit it overnight but its fuse was supposed to be slow enough to detonate some hours later. The story isn’t clear.

There are no obvious terrorism targets in the business complex. My guess is that whoever set the bomb has some connection to one of the businesses there — a recent firing, or something along those lines.