With police near, suspect in bombing blows himself up

PFLUGERVILLE, TEXAS » 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 23-year-old college dropout, had been tracked down using store surveillance video, cellphone signals and witness accounts of a strangelooking customer making purchases while wearing a disguise that included a blond wig and gloves.

Police found him at a hotel in a suburb just north of Austin known as the scene for filming portions of “Friday Night Lights.” There, officers prepared to move in for an arrest.

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.