Twenty-four-year-old Mark Conditt lived in Pflugerville, Texas, northeast of downtown Austin. Less than five miles from the the 1100 block of Haverford Drive, where the first bomb struck, killing Anthony House on March 2, 2018.
House, 39 years old, died after picking up a box on his porch delivered from a FedEx store, brought in to Sunset Valley, and shipped by Conditt himself disguised with a light colored wig and gloves. Draylen Mason, 17 years old, was killed, and his mother was injured, in a similar incident on March 12, around 6:44 a.m. ET, in the city’s East MLK neighborhood.
Later that day, a few miles from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, a 75-year-old Hispanic woman was in the Montopolis neighborhood, when another bomb erupted while police were processing the scene of the East MLK bombing. On March 18, a bomb detonated alongside the road where two young Caucasian men, 23 and 22 years of age, were walking in the upscale Travis Country neighborhood of southwest Austin. The two were driven to the hospital with serious but not life threatening injuries.
“One single package” detonated on a conveyor belt in a FedEx facility in Schertz, Texas, outside San Antonio on March 20. One of the company’s employees suffered minor injuries from the explosion and was treated and released at the scene. San Antonio FBI spokeswoman Michelle Lee said, “based on initial evidence from the scene, investigators consider that it could be connected to the Austin explosions that occurred earlier in the month.”
Also, on March 20, approximately six hours following the explosion in Schertz, police received a call about an out-of-the ordinary package at a FedEx facility in Southeast Austin, just across from Highway 183 right by Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. “It was told the package contained an explosive device, but was disrupted by law enforcement. No reports of any injuries,” according to combined statements from local and federal authorities.
Conditt was “a deep thinker” who was born into a very close home-schooled family. This was reported on Wednesday, March 21, to CNN by people who knew him. Marry Conditt, the perpetrator’s grandmother, thought it “unthinkable” she said, adding that he was was a quiet, loving, and kind person. She had never seen any signs of revenge or violence in him.
He is from a close family, who raises their children to do the right things. “It’s just terrible,” his grandmother said, and added that Conditt had finished home-schooling and was now “looking forward to finding out what most kids are — finding out his life, visiting his family, and being close to them.”
From 2010 to 2012 Conditt attended Austin Community College, but did not graduate, according to school records, and since 2012 has not attended any classes, said spokeswoman Jessica Vess.
Police said Conditt was responsible for over six bombings, five of which detonated in Austin and out side of San Antonio, which lasted for over a three-week period. The motives as to why he started the bombings is still unknown, and the police are still investigating what made him execute them. It is uncertain if he had any accomplices, but he was by himself when he drove away from the hotel and detonated the explosive device in his car.
After 24 to 36 hours of gathering information that led authorities to a person of interest, who later became a suspect. Authorities later identified and spotted the suspect’s car, Tuesday night at a hotel in Round Rock, Texas, a few miles north of Austin. As police awaited tactical units, the vehicle left the hotel, and police followed the vehicle.
The vehicle rested in a ditch by the side of the road of Interstate 35. After a short time, authorities said, Conditt pulled into the ditch and detonated an explosive device as Austin Police Department SWAT team members approached his vehicle, injuring a SWAT team member and knocked over the officer. Austin police Chief Brian Manley said the suspect, Mark Conditt, 24, was responsible for all the incidents in Austin.
Conditt’s family members are “devastated and broken at the news that our family could be involved in such an awful way,” Shanee said in a statement.
Written by Richard Baker
Edited by Jeanette Smith
Sources:
NPR: Mark Anthony Conditt: What We Know About The Austin Bomber
CNN: Austin serial bomber’s family say they had no idea of his ‘darkness’
CNN: How Texas bombings unfolded: After 5 explosions, 6th blast takes suspect’s life
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