BREAKING: Austin serial bombing suspect identified as 24-year-old Mark Anthony Conditt, according to two law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation pic.twitter.com/p7s2SR2La2
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) March 21, 2018
The man suspected of carrying out the serial bombings in Austin, Texas blew himself up in his vehicle early Wednesday as police closed in – and sources have now identified him as 24-year-old Mark Anthony Conditt.
Conditt is believed to be behind the six bombs that have left two dead and five more wounded around Austin this month.
ABC News reported on Wednesday evening that Conditt shipped two package bombs on Sunday night wearing a blonde wig and using the alias “Kelly Killmore.”
A photo of the suspected Austin bomber Mark Anthony Conditt. Conditt died this morning after detonating a bomb inside his car as two officers were approaching his vehicle. MORE: https://t.co/xKPJfLObZl (Photo: Danene Conditt Facebook page) pic.twitter.com/GJWt4ifHVg
— FOX 7 Austin (@fox7austin) March 21, 2018
Conditt died early Wednesday as a SWAT team pulled him over on the side of a highway in Round Rock, Texas. He stopped in a ditch, after authorities tracked him from a nearby hotel, and set off a bomb inside his car. The explosion killed Conditt and wounded a police officer.
The suspected bomber lived in Pflugerville, Texas, a town around 20 miles from Austin. Police said he lived with two roommates that are currently being questioned. Authorities are also inspecting the home of Conditt’s parents in Pflugerville.
Per NBC News:
Police were able to locate Conditt using a variety of tactics, including coming up with a list of phone numbers and individuals that were in the area of the bombings when they occurred, using cell-site analysis and high-tech computing systems that can find patterns of callers in certain areas.
Hours before police attempted to pull Conditt, he turned on his cell phone, which allowed authorities to track his location.
Police also used surveillance footage taken at a FedEx in Austin, which showed Conditt dropping off a package while apparently wearing a blonde wig, to track him down.
“The suspect is deceased and has significant injuries from a blast that occurred from detonating a bomb inside his vehicle,” Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said.
NBC also reported that “exotic” batteries ordered online helped lead them to the suspect, after 350 agents were tasked with finding him:
The unusual batteries used in the explosives were the signature trait that allowed investigators to so quickly link the various explosions to the same man, sources said. One senior law enforcement official said the batteries came from Asia.
“These weren’t your store-bought Duracells,” one official said.
Meanwhile, the Austin American-Statesman reported that Conditt expressed a range of political views in blog posts he wrote for an Austin Community College course:
On the blog, Conditt described himself as a conservative. He wrote that he was against gay marriage and abortion and in favor of the death penalty.
He also wrote that he supported doing away with the sex offender registration system.
