Texas bombing suspect identified as Mark Anthony Conditt
The Austin bombing suspect has been identified.
Mark Anthony Conditt, has been named as the perpetrator in the deadly bombings that terrorised Austin, Texas.
The unemployed 24-year-old, who bought bomb-making materials from Home Depot, blew himself up as authorities closed in on him.
Police have warned that more bombs could be out there and said Conditt’s motive remained a mystery.
It is not yet known if he acted alone in the five bombings in the Texas capital and suburban San Antonio that killed two people and wounded four others.
Police zeroed in on Conditt using store surveillance video, mobile phone signals and witness accounts of a strange-looking customer making purchases while wearing a disguise that included a blonde wig and gloves.
Officers located his vehicle at a hotel on Interstate 35 in the suburb of Round Rock.
They were waiting for armoured vehicles to arrive before moving in for an arrest when his vehicle began to drive away, Austin police chief Brian Manley said at a news conference.
Authorities followed the vehicle, which ran into a ditch on the side of the road, he said.
When members of the Swat team approached, the suspect detonated an explosive device inside the vehicle, the police chief said.
A law enforcement official provided the dead man’s name and investigators released few details about Conditt, except his age and that he was white.
Online postings indicate he was home schooled.
He later attended Austin Community College from 2010 to 2012, according to a college spokeswoman, but he did not graduate.
The mayor of Pflugerville, which is not far from the site of the first bombing, said the suspect lived in his city, just two streets from his house.
Pflugerville resident Jay Schulze said he was jogging on Tuesday night when he was stopped by police and asked about the bombings.
He said police flew drones over a home for about six hours between Tuesday evening and early Wednesday morning.
Mr Schulze described the home over which the drones were flying as ‘a weird house with a lot of people coming and going’ and a bit rundown.
A neighbour who watched Conditt grow up said he ‘always seemed like he was smart’ and ‘polite’.
Jeff Reeb said he has lived next to Conditt’s parents for about 17 years and described them as good neighbours.
He said Conditt, who lived with roommates a few miles away, had visited his parents regularly.
Austin was hit with four package bombings starting on March 2.
A fifth parcel bomb went off early on Tuesday at a FedEx distribution centre near San Antonio.
Representative Michael McCaul, a Republican from Austin, said Conditt’s ‘fatal mistake’ was walking into a FedEx store to post a package because that allowed authorities to obtain surveillance video that showed him and his vehicle, along with his number plate.
From there, Mr McCaul told Austin television station KXAN, investigators could identify the suspect and eventually track him using his mobile phone.
Police warned on Wednesday of the possibility that more bombs had yet to be found.
