Texas bomb suspect left ‘confession’ after deadly spree
THE man suspected of carrying out a series of bombings in the Texas capital Austin and who blew himself up Wednesday left behind a recorded video “confession” that police said portrayed “challenges in his personal life”.
Police said they surrounded Mark Conditt, a 23-year-old white male, outside a hotel in city suburbs, where a series of bombings that began on March 2 killed two men, both black, and injured several others.
The suspect detonated a device in his car and later died, Austin police chief Brian Manley said, bringing a dramatic end to the massive manhunt involving hundreds of federal agents and local police.
Police recovered a roughly 25-minute recording from a phone in Conditt’s possession when the explosion occurred, and Manley said he “would classify this as a confession”.
On the recording, Conditt describes seven explosive devices, and “we have accounted for the devices that we have known about”, the police chief said.
Manley said that on the 25-minute video, Conditt “does not at all mention anything about terrorism, nor does he mention anything about hate”.
“Instead, it is the outcry of a very challenged young man talking about challenges in his per- sonal life that led him to this point,” he said.
Police zeroed in on Conditt over 24 to 36 hours as evidence came in from video footage and witness accounts, Manley said.
A sealed federal arrest warrant and criminal complaint had been filed Tuesday night, charging Conditt with one count of unlawful possession and transfer of a destructive device, the US Department of Justice said.
Law enforcement officers searched a home in the Austin suburb of Pflugerville identified as Conditt’s residence. Police evacuated a five-block radius and detained the suspect’s two roommates for questioning.
Fred Milanowski of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said a recovery team discovered explosive material in the home, along with “componentry” that resembled those found at the scenes of previous explosions.
Information about Conditt’s past began to trickle out.
The Houston Chronicle reported that Conditt grew up in a religious family, was homeschooled and briefly attended a local community college.
Police could not say how he had learned to build explosive devices.
News organisations found a blog from 2012 with six postings attributed to Conditt, who would have been a teenager at the time of their publication.
On it, Conditt described himself as “conservative”.
The posts, apparently part of a class assignment, argued against gay marriage, saying homosexuality was “not natural”, supported the death penalty, and criticised the sex offender registry.
Conditt’s family released a statement to CNN saying they were unaware of “the darkness that Mark must have been in”.
“Our family is a normal family in every way. We love, we pray, and we try to inspire and serve others. Right now our prayers are for those families that have lost loved ones, for those impacted in any way, and for the soul of our Mark.”