[3] Austin Police Department Assistant Chief Joseph Chacon floated a theory that House might have bombed himself, perhaps while assembling the device.

[7][8] On March 20, around 12:25 a.m., a bomb exploded in a package at a FedEx Ground facility in Schertz, Texas, injuring one employee.

[12][13] Notes After the first bombing, the Austin Police Department (APD) announced it was investigating the death of House as a possible homicide.

"[16] On the following Monday, March 5, Austin police identified the first victim as Anthony Stephan House, and said the death was being treated as suspicious.

[17] The first police theory was that House was an unintended victim who was killed by a bomb meant for someone else, perhaps a suspected drug dealer who lived in the neighborhood.

[21][22] Because the bombs appeared to target the east side of Austin, which predominantly consists of poorer, African-American and Latino residents, local activists questioned whether the police advisory and investigation was delayed.

A FedEx store in the Austin suburb of Sunset Valley was cordoned off early in the morning of March 20 after local police tracked down the origin of the package that exploded at the sorting facility in Schertz.

As part of the investigation, agents collected and reviewed receipts and sales records from stores for suspicious purchases of those components.

[33] The surveillance footage captured a red 2002 Ford Ranger with no license plate; investigators examined records for all matching cars in Texas for white males possibly in their 20s.

[34] At least one neighbor of Conditt noticed several people sitting in parked cars along the street on the night of March 20, which she now believes were unmarked police vehicles quietly staking out his house.

[37] The Austin Police Department closed a southbound section of the interstate where FBI and ATF agents were dispatched to investigate.

[42] Conditt moved out of his family's home a few years before the bombings and into a house nearby that he bought with his father and lived in with two roommates.

[15] He spent several years as an employee of Crux Manufacturing, which makes semiconductors, but he was fired eight months before the bombings for poor performance.

[44] On March 29, after criticism of his earlier statements, Chief Manley reversed his stance and called Conditt "a domestic terrorist for what he did to us".

[45] In response to the bombings, FedEx instituted a new policy on April 2, 2018, requiring all retail customers to provide government photo identification that includes their return address to ship packages.

Police searched the area mentioned in the email and found nothing of concern, but planned performances by The Roots and Ludacris, among others, were canceled.

[52] ATF agents and police officers quickly responded to the scene, and firefighters of the Austin Fire Department (AFD) evacuated the building of civilians.