‘Austin bombing suspect called himself a psychopath’
AUSTIN (AP) — The suspected Austin bomber called himself a “psychopath” in a recorded confession and said he felt no remorse for the deadly explosions that killed two people and terrorized the city, a US congressman said on Saturday.
Investigators are still looking into what motivated 23-year-old Mark Anthony Conditt, but the recording he left on his phone shows that he was a “sick individual,” US Rep. Michael McCaul said.
“He did refer to himself as a psychopath. He did not show any remorse, in fact questioning himself for why he didn’t feel any remorse for what he did,” McCaul said.
Conditt makes no mention of a racial motivation on the recording, but investigators are still looking into that as a possibility, he said. The first three victims were minorities.
McCaul, a former federal prosecutor who chairs the House Committee on Homeland Security, spoke at a news conference where he thanked law enforcement officials for bringing the threeweek spree to an end.
He called the investigation, which included more than 800 officers, a textbook example of how local, state and federal agencies should work together.
Beginning March 2, police said Conditt planted bombs in different parts of Austin, killing two people and severely wounding four others.
He began by placing explosives in packages left overnight on doorsteps, killing 39-year-old father Anthony Stephan House and 17-yearold musician Draylen Mason and critically injuring 75-yearold Esperanza Herrera.