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Mark Conditt, an unemployed man from the Austin suburb of
Pflugerville, was behind bombings that killed two people and
wounded five others over three weeks before he killed himself as
police officers moved in on him on Wednesday, police in the
Texas capital said.
Police said Conditt confessed to the bombings in a 25-minute
video made on his cellphone hours before he blew himself up. The
video showed a troubled young man, police said, but did not
outline a clear motive for the attacks that began March 2.
As law enforcement officials continue to search for Conditt's
motive, they remain anxious to learn whether anyone assisted him
build or plant his bombs.
"Even though the bomber's dead, our focus is to ensure that he
wasn't working with anyone else," said Michelle Lee, a
spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation's San
Antonio office.
Investigators sought further clues on Thursday from the
Pflugerville home Conditt shared with his roommates. Bomb-making
material was found in a room there and investigators questioned
and released two of Conditt's roommates, police said.
Conditt's bombs primarily targeted Austin. Three were left as
parcels outside victims' homes, one by a sidewalk with a
trip-wire mechanism attached and two shipped as FedEx parcels,
which helped investigators unmask the bomber's identity.
The second and third bombs went off while Austin was hosting its
annual South by Southwest music, movies and tech festival, which
draws about half a million people.
Conditt and his three siblings were home-schooled through high
school, his mother wrote on Facebook. He attended classes at
Austin Community College between 2010 and 2012, but did not
graduate.
(Additional reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing
by Alison Williams)
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