FBI looking into explosions that rocked 2 New Mexico churches

The scene outside of Holy Cross Catholic Church Sunday morning.
(Image credit: Twitter.com/ikillthelight)

The FBI is investigating two small explosions that targeted churches in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on Sunday morning.

No one was injured, and the Calvary Baptist Church and Holy Cross Catholic Church sustained minor damage. Both churches are closed, a public information officer with the Las Cruces Police Department told ABC News. Shortly after 8 a.m., people inside the Calvary Baptist Church preparing for the 8:30 a.m. service heard what sounded like a "boom." Witness Dennis Llewellyn said outside, a mailbox near the entrance was "completely opened up and twisted and blown apart. It just obliterated everything. If anyone was in front of it, it would have killed them."

Within 30 minutes, another explosive device detonated in a trash bin at Holy Cross Catholic Church, police said, after the 8 a.m. Mass had already started. "The trash can was right near a front entranceway and had there been somebody within close proximity, they may have well been injured," Dan Trujillo of the Las Cruces Police Department said. So far, there are no suspects. "We'll look into them to see if they are connected," Trujillo said. "It seems like they might be."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.