AUSTIN, Texas, April 27 (UPI) -- Police in Texas Friday arrested a suspect after an explosive device was found at a women's health clinic known for performing abortions.
The device was found this week near the Austin Women's Health Center in the southern part of the city, The Austin (Texas) American-Statesman reported.
Paul Ross Evans, 27, of Austin was charged with three federal crimes -- using weapons of mass destruction, attempting to damage a building used in interstate commerce and attempting to damage a facility because it provides reproductive health services -- the newspaper said.
Evans was in federal custody, officials said at a Friday news conference announcing the arrest.
"Our initial estimates are that the device could have caused serious injury or death within a 100-foot radius," Assistant Police Chief David Carter said.
Evans was crying as he appeared Friday before a federal magistrate, the newspaper said. The court appointed an attorney for him.
The bomb, which was spotted by a clinic employee Wednesday, was contained in a soft-side insulated cooler. It contained nails, a 12-inch piece of copper pipe, a mechanical timer and a propane cylinder, an FBI agent said in an affidavit. The pipe contained potassium nitrate and a type of sugar called dextrin.
Investigators identified Evans by tracing the credit-card purchase of some of the material.
The newspaper reported that the bomb could have been a reaction to the recent U.S. Supreme Court's upholding of the federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act.
