Motivation of bomber unknown, say police
UNITED STATES: A serial bomber who killed two people and wounded six more in Austin, Texas before blowing himself up was a white, home-schooled Texan who had lost his job last year at a microchip plant.
Mark Conditt, 23, was known in the quiet neighbourhood of Pflugerville as a smart, polite young man from a nice family who grew up on a suburban street and enjoyed cycling and tennis. He had terrorised Austin for three weeks, planting bombs on doorsteps and on a street with a tripwire, and in packages he posted.
Hours after Conditt killed himself with a bomb inside his car as a Swat team approached, police said they were still unsure of his movements during his final 24 hours, and warned that there could still be other bombs in the city.
Neighbours on the street where he lived were told to clear the area yesterday, and a bomb disposal team was preparing to send an anti-explosives robot into his home.
In 2012 Conditt appears to have written blog posts on politically charged themes, as part of a course on government.
‘‘I view myself as a conservative, but I don’t think I have enough information to defend my stance as well as it should be defended,’’ he wrote.
One post opposed gay marriage. The government should not interfere in the sexual lives of citizens, he wrote. ‘‘But we shouldn’t even have this problem! Homosexuality is not natural. It is not natural to couple male with male and female with female. It would be like trying to fit two screws and (two) nuts together.’’
He wrote in favour of the death penalty and against the release of an al Qaeda terrorist, and argued against free provision of abortions, because ‘‘if you can’t provide for a child then don’t have sex’’.
A job recruitment post identified him as a ‘‘computer repair technician’’. His father was said to have sold electronic goods to earn extra income.
In February 2013 his mother announced on Facebook that she had ‘‘officially graduated Mark from high school’’. She added: ‘‘He’s thinking of taking some time to figure out what he wants to do ... maybe a mission trip.’’
Conditt took a job with a small engineering company as a purchasing and shipping agent. His boss there said he was very reserved. He was said to have been fired in August, after warnings, because he was failing to take his work seriously. He was last thought to be renovating a house.
How he became a bomb maker remains unclear. ‘‘We don’t know what motivated him to do what he did,’’ said Brian Manley, chief of the Austin Police Department.
Three bombs were left on doorsteps, with a fourth left on the side of a street and apparently detonated by a tripwire. All were packed with nails and shrapnel.
– The Times