Austin Police are investigating two separate crimes that resulted in two arrests last week.
Health clinic bomb scare
A Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested and charged a 27-year-old for allegedly planting a bomb at a women's health clinic in South Austin that performs abortion procedures.
Paul Ross Evans is accused of violating United States code by using a weapon of mass destruction, manufacturing the explosive device and preventing freedom of access to the clinic's entrance. Local and federal authorities are conducting an investigation into the incident, which came exactly one week after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a ban on partial-birth abortions.
Police said they could not determine if the suspect specifically targeted the health clinic.
Patrol officers began examining a suspicious package at the Austin Women's Health Center parking lot located at 1902 South I-35 at about 2:15 p.m. Wednesday.
Authorities evacuated the clinic, a nearby insurance agency and closed all four southbound lanes on I-35 while they detonated the package.
Tests by the Homeland Defense Team and the Austin Fire Department revealed the bomb would have caused "serious bodily injury and/or death" had it exploded.
According to Evans' arrest affidavit, video surveillance cameras at a Lowe's hardware store in Lufkin, Texas, captured the suspect buying a package of 9-volt batteries, electrical tape and a copper tube. A receipt for the blue insulated container purchased at an Austin Wal-Mart, which investigators identified as the package, bore Evans' credit card number.
Authorities also said the items confiscated at the health center match the ones purchased at the Lowe's in Lufkin.
Reinli Street murder
Police charged 36-year-old Christian Palacios in the parking-lot murder of Gamaliel Jimenez Bohorquez on Friday.
Just after 10 p.m. on April 21, police responded to a call that Bohorquez was down in a parking lot at 1101 Reinli St. Officers located the victim, who suffered from a gunshot wound, and had him transported to Brackenridge Hospital. He died just after arriving to the hospital.
Police are still searching for a Hispanic female with blond hair, who allegedly accompanied the suspect during the murder. Anyone with information concerning her whereabouts or identity can call detectives at 512-477-3588.
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