I-Team: Former ATF Agent Suspects Austin Bomber May Have an Accomplice
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) — The search for the person behind the series of package bombs terrorizing the city of Austin appears to have come to an end after the suspected bomber apparently blew himself up amid a police pursuit. But did he act alone?
Here in North Texas, a former ATF agent revealed to the CBS 11 I-Team exactly who he thinks could be behind the Texas terror.
"You start off with a really rough sketch and as the days go on and on it starts to get clearer and clearer and you'll see that person emerge," retired AFT agent Hector Tarango says of the investigation unfolding in the state's capitol.
Tarango spent more than 25 years as an investigator and supervisor before retiring in 2016. He's now CEO of Vindico, a firm that specializes in security solutions and private investigations.
While the suspect who took his own life has been only identified thus far as a 24-year-old white man, the former ATF agent in charge had already predicted that the suspect was:
- 20 to 30 years old
- Educated
- Mostly likely a local resident
"Maybe I go to that because of the state of the country and where we are in the country right now," Tarango told CBS 11. "And you seem to hear a lot of that from millennials, they seem to be the loudest voices in the country right now saying things are broken."
Tarango has studied maps of where the bombings have occurred. The suspect, he says, likely knows how to avoid surveillance cameras and has as a very familiar escape route.
"They were happening in the line off Interstate 35 and that tells me that's the way they are getting in and out pretty quickly," Tarango said. He adds the person could be former military or law enforcement who has a regular job now and very likely an accomplice.
"These happening so quickly, I think he has someone that's helping him very much like the DC Sniper case," Tarango said. "There was two people, he had a lookout and a guy shooting and vice versa. So I think he's probably working in tandem with someone else."
There's even speculation running rampant on social media, where one person identified himself and gave details of the attacks before having his account shut down. Tarango reviewed the messages at our request.
"It will be interesting to see what becomes of that because he is very specific," Tarango said.
The suspect or suspects typically watch media reports and purposely changing their modes and methods.
"He's getting away from law enforcement and hitting these communities where they're not expecting it," Tarango said, adding that there appears to be a method to the suspect's madness.
"We always seem to catch the not so smart ones, this guy seems to be a little smarter," he said.