January 15, 2013
Six people hospitalized including 5 year old that some reports say opened the package only 1 explosive detonated, the family is not cooperating with police.
BROWNSVILLE — Investigators say they believe a Brownsville family was intentionally targeted when a bomb exploded inside their home Friday morning and injured three of them.
The morning blast at a home on Resaca Vista Drive critically injured a 5-year-old girl and her parents, and left the neighborhood on the city’s north side nervous.
However, police say they have not been able to determine why the bomb was left at the home.
Police Chief Orlando C. Rodriguez told The Brownsville Herald that family members who were not injured were not giving authorities many details Friday.
“They are not providing us with any information that is of any use … Is it because they don’t want to talk or they don’t know? That is what we are trying to determine,” Rodriguez said.
At the time of the blast, four or five people were in the house, including those injured, police spokesman J.J. Treviño said. “It doesn’t seem like it was a random act,” Treviño said.
Authorities declined to say whether the bombing was cartel related. “The person or persons who had these devices delivered or delivered them knew what they were doing,” Rodriguez said. “These were not simple devices. Somebody knew what they were doing.
“This was intended to cause mass destruction,” the chief added. “This family or members of this family were targeted.”
The girl, identified as Andrea Juarez, was the most severely injured, police said. It is unknown how close she was to the package when it exploded.
Her parents — Jesus Juarez, 26, and Iviz Machado, 30 — were also seriously injured.
Rodriguez said the package was delivered sometime late Thursday night. The father, Jesus Juarez, found it Friday morning and brought it inside, Rodriguez said.
When Juarez opened it, the package exploded, the chief said.
The resulting blast blew the front door off the house and shattered the windows. It created a fire and left burn damage.
The girl received second-degree burns and was rushed by ambulance to Shriners Hospital for Children in Galveston, authorities said. Her parents were taken to Brooke Army Medical Center Burn Unit in San Antonio.
Treviño said that because of dangerous winds the victims were not airlifted.
The package contained four pipe-bomb-like devices, Rodriguez said, adding that he was being careful not to speculate because the investigation is ongoing. Only one detonated.
The three unexploded bombs in the package were rendered safe by a remote vehicle at around 1:45 p.m. Friday. A loud pop was heard down the street from the scene.
“It’s an act of God that the other three devices didn’t go off or that house wouldn’t be standing there right now. That house would have been gone,” Rodriguez said, as officers opened up the perimeter and cleared the way for an evidence team to move in to the multi-colored, two-story house.
For most of the day, the entire neighborhood was blocked off by police, who set a vast perimeter because of the explosives. The police advised residents to evacuate the neighborhood as a precaution.
Federal agents with the Department of Homeland Security and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives helped Brownsville police Friday.
At Valley Regional Medical Center, a hazardous material crew set up a station to disinfect first responders, nurses and doctors who came into contact with the victims. Rodriguez said the HAZMAT team was called out as a precautionary measure.
VRMC spokeswoman Robin Brechot said authorities requested that the hospital staff who treated the victims be decontaminated as a health precaution.
Approximately 40 staff members were decontaminated by the HAZMAT team dispatched to the hospital. Several firefighters were also decontaminated, she said.
The entrance to the hospital’s emergency room was closed off because the decontamination tent was set up there, officials said. However, the emergency room was never shut down and continued to receive patients who needed emergency medical treatment.
Drue Brown, spokeswoman for the Brownsville Independent School District, said none of the elementary schools located near Resaca Vista Drive were placed on lockdown. However, on Friday, the district increased its police patrol around the schools as a precaution, Brown said.
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