Officials investigate the scene
where a suspect in a series of
bombing attacks in Austin blew
himself up as authorities closed in,
Wednesday, March 21, 2018, in Round
Rock, Texas. (Provided by Hearst
Communications, Inc)
With
police
near,
suspected
Austin
bomber
blows
himself
up
By
JIM
VERTUNO
and
WILL
WEISSERT
PFLUGERVILLE,
TX - As
a SWAT
team
closed
in, the
suspected
bomber
whose
deadly
explosives
terrorized
Austin
for
three
weeks
used one
of his
devices
to blow
himself
up. But
police
warned
that he
could
have
planted
more
bombs
before
his
death,
and they
cautioned
the city
to stay
on
guard.
Mark
Anthony
Conditt,
an
unemployed
college
dropout,
had been
tracked
down
using
store
surveillance
video,
cellphone
signals
and
witness
accounts
of a
strange-looking
customer
making
purchases
in a
disguise
that
included
a blonde
wig and
gloves.
His
motive
remained
a
mystery.
Police
finally
found
the
23-year-old
early
Wednesday
at a
hotel in
a suburb
north of
Austin
known as
the
scene
for
filming
portions
of
“Friday
Night
Lights.”
Officers
prepared
to move
in for
an
arrest.
When the
suspect’s
sport
utility
vehicle
began to
drive
away,
they
followed.
Conditt
ran into
a ditch
on the
side of
the
road,
and SWAT
officers
approached.
That’s
when he
detonated
a bomb
inside
the
vehicle,
Austin
Police
Chief
Brian
Manley
said.
Authorities
did not
immediately
say
whether
Conditt
acted
alone in
the five
bombings
in the
Texas
capital
and
suburban
San
Antonio
that
killed
two
people
and
wounded
four
others.
Police
are
investigating
the home
of the
Austin
bombings
suspect
and the
FedEx
location
one of
the
explosives
is
thought
to have
originated
from.
Agents
are
using a
robot to
help
detect
and
diffuse
and
bombs
located
inside
the
house.
(March
21)
Investigators
released
few
details
about
Conditt,
except
his age
and that
he was
white.
Neighbors
say he
was home
schooled.
He later
attended
Austin
Community
College
from
2010 to
2012,
according
to a
college
spokeswoman,
but he
did not
graduate.
In
posts
dated
from
2012, a
blogger
who
identified
himself
as Mark
Conditt
of
suburban
Pflugerville
wrote
that gay
marriage
should
be
illegal.
He also
called
for the
elimination
of sex
offender
registrations
and
argued
in favor
of the
death
penalty.
He
listed
his
interests
as
cycling,
tennis
and
listening
to
music.
Of
gay
marriage,
Conditt
wrote:
“Homosexuality
is not
natural.
Just
look at
the male
and
female
bodies.
They are
obviously
designed
to
couple.”
Jay
Schulze,
who
lives in
Pflugerville,
said he
was
jogging
Tuesday
night
when he
was
stopped
by
police
and
asked
about
the
bombings.
He said
police
flew
drones
over
Conditt’s
home for
about
six
hours
between
Tuesday
evening
and
early
Wednesday
morning.
Schulze
described
the home
as “a
weird
house
with a
lot of
people
coming
and
going”
and a
bit
rundown.
A
neighbor
who
watched
Conditt
grow up
said he
always
seemed
smart
and
polite.
Jeff
Reeb
said he
has
lived
next to
Conditt’s
parents
for
about 17
years
and
described
them as
good
neighbors.
Conditt
had
visited
his
parents
regularly,
he said.
Conditt’s
family
released
a
statement
saying
they had
“no idea
of the
darkness
that
Mark
must
have
been
in.” His
uncle,
Mike
Courtney,
described
his
nephew
as a
“computer
geek”
who was
intelligent
and
kind.
Austin
was hit
with
four
bombings
starting
on March
2. First
packages
left on
doorsteps
exploded,
then a
bomb
with a
tripwire
was
placed
near a
public
trail. A
fifth
parcel
bomb
detonated
early
Tuesday
at a
FedEx
distribution
center
near San
Antonio.
Rep.
Michael
McCaul,
a
Republican
from
Austin,
said
Conditt’s
“fatal
mistake”
was
walking
into a
FedEx
store to
mail a
package
because
that
allowed
authorities
to
obtain
surveillance
video
that
showed
him and
his
vehicle,
along
with his
license
plate
number.
From
there,
investigators
could
identify
the
suspect
and
eventually
track
him
using
his
cellphone.
Police
warned
of the
possibility
that
more
bombs
had yet
to be
found.
“We
don’t
know
where
this
suspect
has
spent
his last
24
hours,
and
therefore
we still
need to
remain
vigilant
to
ensure
that no
other
packages
or
devices
have
been
left to
the
community,”
Manley
said.
By
late
afternoon,
federal
officials
had a
“reasonable
level of
certainty”
that
there
were no
more
package
bombs
“out in
the
public,”
said
Fred
Milanowski
of the
U.S.
Bureau
of
Alcohol,
Tobacco,
Firearms
and
Explosives.
But
authorities
urged
continued
awareness
just in
case.
Homemade
explosives
were
recovered
from
Conditt’s
home.
Two of
his
roommates
were
detained
for
questioning.
One was
later
released.
Investigators
initially
believed
the
bombings
may have
been
hate
crimes
because
the
victims
of the
earliest
blasts
were
black,
but they
backed
off that
theory
after
Hispanic
and
white
victims
from
different
parts of
the city
were
also
affected.
Milanowski,
the
agent in
charge
of the
Houston
division
of the
ATF,
said it
was
“hard to
say” if
the
bombing
suspect
had
acted
alone.
“What we
do know
is we
believe
the same
person
built
each one
of these
devices,”
he said.
Austin
Mayor
Steve
Adler
thanked
law
enforcement
for
their
work in
bringing
down the
suspect
and
urged
residents
to
continue
to
report
anything
that
appeared
suspicious
or out
of
place.
Isaac
Figueroa,
26, said
he and
his
brother
heard
sirens
and
helicopters
around 2
a.m.
Wednesday
in the
area and
drove
toward
them,
then cut
through
nearby
woods on
foot
after
they hit
a police
roadblock.
Figueroa
said
they saw
a sport
utility
vehicle
that was
pinned
between
large
vans and
“looked
like it
had been
rammed
off the
road.”
He said
police
later
deployed
a robot
to go
examine
the
vehicle.
President
Donald
Trump,
who had
earlier
said
whoever
was
responsible
for the
Austin
bombings
was
“obviously
a very
sick
individual,”
tweeted,
“AUSTIN
BOMBING
SUSPECT
IS DEAD.
Great
job by
law
enforcement
and all
concerned!”
The
suspect’s
death
followed
a day of
rapid-fire
developments
in the
case.
Early
Tuesday,
a bomb
inside a
package
exploded
as it
passed
along a
conveyer
belt at
a FedEx
shipping
center
in
Schertz,
northeast
of San
Antonio
and
about 60
miles
(95
kilometers)
southwest
of
Austin.
Later in
the day,
police
sent a
bomb
squad to
a FedEx
facility
outside
the
Austin
airport
to check
on a
suspicious
package.
Authorities
later
said
that
package
contained
an
explosive
that was
tied to
the
other
bombings.