AUSTIN, Texas _ Law enforcement officials have turned their focus in a series of three bombing attacks in Austin on the family connections and friendships between two victims who were killed, trying to determine whether those ties may yield clues into who is behind the attacks that continue to puzzle investigators.
Anthony House, the first person killed when a bomb exploded on his porch, is the son of the Rev. Freddie Dixon. Dixon is a close personal friend of Norman Mason, the grandfather of 17-year-old Draylen Mason, who was killed Monday morning in the second package bomb attack.
Both Dixon and Mason are prominent members of Austin's African-American community.
For 22 years, Dixon was a minister at Wesley United Methodist Church in East Austin and still attends the church along with Mason. Investigators were seeking Wednesday to learn more about the friendship between the two families, and whether anyone would want to target them, or whether the connections are a coincidence, said law enforcement officials familiar with the case
Neither man could be reached for comment Wednesday. Agents have interviewed members of the church as part of the ongoing investigation.
