The white male that was behind the terroristic wave of bomb attacks in Austin has killed himself.
According to published reports, Mark Anthony Conditt, the terrorist behind a wave of bombings in Austin and south-central Texas, killed himself early Wednesday (Mar 21).
CNN reports that Conditt detonated a bomb in his vehicle before dawn on the side of Interstate 35, north of Austin, as police approached him, after following him from a hotel in Round Rock after authorities identified him using receipts, internet searches, witness sketches and, ultimately, surveillance video that revealed he’d delivered packages days earlier to an area FedEx store.
Police had come to believe Conditt was responsible for five explosions that killed two people and injured five others in Austin and the San Antonio area beginning March 2, and an arrest warrant was issued for him Tuesday night.
The bombings — five over nearly three weeks, with some involving packages left on Austin doorsteps — had driven the area to near-panic and killing three African-Americans and one Hispanic woman.
But by Tuesday night, investigators had identified a suspect and found his vehicle at the Round Rock hotel, about 20 miles north of Austin. While police waited for tactical teams to arrive, Conditt drove away, then stopped in a ditch off I-35, Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said.
As SWAT members approached the vehicle, Conditt “detonated a bomb inside the vehicle, knocking one of the SWAT officers back.” The blast killed Conditt and injured the officer, Manley said.
A different SWAT officer fired a gun at Conditt, Manley said; but at press time it wasn’t immediately clear whether Conditt was shot.
This surveillance image from a shipping store in the Austin area shows a gloved man leaving two packages Sunday at a counter, CNN affiliate WOAI reported. Austin Mayor Steve Alder told CNN that man is the Austin bombing suspect.
Police haven’t explicitly said what happened to the packages in that video. But early Tuesday, in the last known explosion before Conditt killed himself, a package exploded on an automated conveyor at a FedEx sorting center near San Antonio, slightly injuring a worker there.
Even in announcing his death, though, police warned a wary public not to let down their guard.
“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 throughout the community,” Manley said.
Police don’t yet “understand what motivated (Conditt) to do what he did,” Manley said, adding, “This investigation is still underway, so we cannot say that this was individual acting on their own.”
Police have released the following information about Conditt
• Conditt, 23, lived in Pflugerville, a city just outside Austin, according to public records and a longtime neighbor of his parents.
• Officers detained and questioned his two roommates Wednesday. Neither person was under arrest, Austin police said.
• An arrest warrant for Conditt and a criminal complaint charging him with one count of unlawful possession and transfer of a destructive device were filed Tuesday night, authorities said. An affidavit detailing the reasons for the warrant and charge is under seal, they said.
• An aunt of Conditt’s said her family is “devastated and broken at the news that our family could be involved in such an awful way.”
• People were evacuated Wednesday morning from parts of downtown Pflugerville, police said, without elaborating. In a video, Pflugerville Mayor Victor Gonzales noted a heightened presence of police and said, “This is a fluid situation, and the information is limited at this time.”
• Austin police on Wednesday morning conducted a “follow-up investigation” at the FedEx facility where an intact bomb was found a day earlier, the agency tweeted. The building was temporarily evacuated, but police said normal business “will resume.”
• Conditt was an Austin Community College student from 2010 to 2012 but did not graduate, the school said.
As of press time, authorities had not confirmed that Conditt would be charged with a hate crime. For the full breakdown of the bombers timeline, visit here.
