In the end, it was sightings of a strange man in a blonde wig in several stores that led authorities to a serial bomber who had terrified the city and suburbs of Austin, Texas, for almost three weeks and left two people dead.
The suspect, identified by local media citing law enforcement sources as Mark Anthony Conditt, an unemployed 23-year old white man, killed himself with one of his own devices early Wednesday in his SUV after being cornered by a Swat team overnight at a suburban hotel parking lot.
“The suspect is deceased and has significant injuries from a blast that occurred from detonating a bomb inside his vehicle,” Brian Manley, the Austin police chief, told reporters at the scene.
Officers had been waiting for ballistic vehicles to arrive when the suspect’s vehicle began to drive away, Manley said. Authorities followed the vehicle, which stopped in a ditch on the side of the road. When members of the swat team approached, the suspect detonated a device. The blast knocked back one officer, while a second officer fired his weapon, Manley said.
The suspect in the four attacks was from the city of Pflugerville, 14 miles north of downtown Austin.
The bomber had previously evaded detection since the attacks began on 2 March when a package bomb exploded and killed a 39-year old man, Anthony House. More attacks followed, including further package bombs that also killed a 17-year-old male, Draylen Mason, and a roadside device believed triggered by a tripwire. At least five people were injured in the series of attacks.
The two killed were black, prompting community leaders to warn of hate attacks. Officials have yet to describe a motive.
By Sunday, investigators seemed to be struggling as they asked the public for help despite the deployment of hundreds of officers and $115,000 (£82,000) rewards being offered. But in the last 24 to 36 hours they had identified a suspect, said the Texas governor, Greg Abbott. “We’ve known for a couple of days who the suspect likely was,” Abbott told Fox News. “Law enforcement is at his house in Pflugerville where we are learning whether or not that was the location he was making his bombs.”
Abbott said the suspect’s mobile phone pinged in several different locations; CCTV had captured footage of the suspect in blonde wig and gloves posting packages at a FedEx on Sunday night.
Authorities released few details about the suspect, except his age and that he was white; they have not officially named him. However, online postings indicate he was homeschooled. He attended Austin Community College from 2010 to 2012, according to a college spokeswoman, but he did not graduate.
In posts dated from 2012, a blogger who identified himself as Mark Conditt of Pflugerville wrote that gay marriage should be illegal, called for the elimination of sex offender registrations, and argued in favor of the death penalty. He described his interests as cycling, tennis and listening to music. Of gay marriage, Conditt wrote: “Homosexuality is not natural. Just look at the male and female bodies. They are obviously designed to couple.”
Fred Milanowski, an agent with the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), said it was “hard to say” if the bombing suspect had acted alone.
How the Austin bombings unfolded
By Jamiles Lartey
First package explodes
A package bomb, which was not sent through a commercial delivery service, explodes at an East Austin home, killing 39-year-old Anthony House. It is treated as an isolated incident.
More bombs detonate
Two more package bombs, similar to the first, detonate at East Austin homes. The second blast kills 17-year-old Draylen Mason and injures his mother. The third blast injures 75-year-old Esperanza Herrera. Police believe they may be dealing with a serial bomber.
Residents and investigators speculate that the bombs may be targeted at a specific network of black church and community leaders. House and Mason belonged to a shared social and church network, and the third bomb was placed two doors down from black woman also named Mason, but who was unrelated to Draylen Mason’s family.
After the police issue an alert, hundreds of reports of suspicious packages roll in.
Two injured by roadside bomb
Two white male cyclists are injured by a roadside bomb that police believe was detonated by a tripwire attached to a 'for sale' sign. Authorities fear the bomber may possess a level of skill and sophistication beyond what they previously believed.
Device explodes at FedEx center
In the early morning hours, a device detonates in a FedEx processing facility in Schertz, Texas, near San Antonio. One woman is injured. Several hours later, another suspicious package is deactivated by authorities who eventually trace both parcels to a customer at a FedEx store in Sunset Valley, part of the Austin metropolitan area.
Suspect kills himself
After authorities identify and pursue the suspect in a vehicle to Round Rock, north of Austin, he detonates an explosive, the seventh known device, killing himself.
“What we do know is we believe the same person built each one of these devices,” said Milanowski, the agent in charge of the Houston division of the ATF.
On Wednesday morning, law enforcement were seen entering houses believed to be where Conditt and his parents lived, about half-a-mile apart near downtown Pflugerville.
An American flag on the front porch of his parents’ neat two-storey house with cream-coloured clapboard fluttered in the breeze as a local police officer stood guard by the front door. Around the other house, a small street was closed to traffic as federal and state agents worked the scene.
“We don’t have any information to believe that the family had any knowledge of these crimes,” David Fugitt, a detective with Austin police department’s homicide unit, told the Guardian at a brief news conference outside Conditt’s parents’ home, which was being searched by agents and a bomb-sniffing dog, along with buildings in the backyard including a shed.
“This family’s been very cooperative, they’ve gone above and beyond to answer any questions that we’ve had,” Conditt said. “They’re having a difficult time, I think it’s understandable with what they’ve had to deal with, this is certainly a shock to the conscience.”
The officer said that the family will be releasing a statement: “They wanted to express their condolences to the families of those that have been affected.”
Tim Williams, a 55-year-old auto broker who lives a short walk away, said: “It’s scary. Something this big, this close, it puts everybody on edge. Pflugerville is a really quiet community, laid back, nothing ever goes on. Especially nothing of this magnitude.”
Austin mapThe Austin mayor, Steve Adler, thanked law enforcement for their work in bringing down the suspect and urged residents to continue to report anything that appeared suspicious or out of place. “We’re just really relieved and just incredibly thankful for this army of law enforcement that has been in our community here for the last week or so,” he said on NBC’s Today show.
President Donald Trump, who had earlier said whoever was responsible for the Austin bombings was “obviously a very sick individual or individuals,” tweeted: “AUSTIN BOMBING SUSPECT IS DEAD. Great job by law enforcement and all concerned!”
The case has spurred memories of the Montana-based domestic terrorist Ted Kaczynski, the so-called Unabomber, who killed three people and injured 23 others with package bombs over 17 years, starting in 1978. He was not arrested until 1996.
Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report
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