Two Bomb Blasts hit Las Cruces, NM Churches Minutes Apart

Two small explosions just 20 minutes and a few miles apart shocked congregants Sunday morning at two churches in southern New Mexico.

There were no injuries from the blasts outside Calvary Baptist Church and Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church in Las Cruces, a police spokesman, Danny Trujillo, said. Each building had minor damage.

Authorities were trying to determine who planted the explosives, what materials were used and whether the blasts were related.

“It doesn’t appear to be coincidental because of the timing, but you never know,” Mr. Trujillo said.

Several agencies, including the F.B.I., the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the New Mexico State Police, were assisting the investigation.

The first explosive device went off at 8:20 a.m. in a mailbox on a wall near the administrative entrance to Calvary Baptist. The police said several worshipers were inside at the time, but services had not started.

Churchgoers said the explosion shook the building, and there was debris around the damaged mailbox. Sgt. Robert Gutierrez of the Las Cruces Police Department described seeing “just a lot of paper shreds.”

The next blast came from a trash can outside Holy Cross at 8:40 a.m. as Msgr. John Anderson was giving communion.

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