East Austin Home Explosion Kills Teen, Seriously Injures Woman

EAST AUSTIN, TX — A teenager was killed and a woman injured after an explosion at an East Austin home.

Austin-Travis County EMS medics and other emergency crews responded to the 4800 block of Oldfort Hill Drive at 6:44 a.m. amid reports of a package explosion at the site. The location is near 51st Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

A woman in her 40s was transported to Dell Seton Medical Center with serious and potentially life-threatening injuries, medics said via Twitter. A second victim, a male in his late teens, was pronounced dead at the scene, medics added.

The incident marked the second explosion reported at an Austin home this month, and one in three such blasts overall. Four hours later, emergency crews were dispatched to Galindo Street where a woman in her 70s was injured after a similar blast. And on March 2, a man died after a blast on the porch of a Northeast Austin home now being investigated as a homicide.

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Given the close succession of the two similar incidents, police have been prompted to investigate whether the cases are somehow connected. Police didn't immediately comment on whether the two incidents are tied. For the time being, resident are being advised not to open suspicious packages delivered to their homes.

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