The suspected Texas serial bomber has been identified by US media citing police sources as 24-year-old Mark Anthony Conditt.
The young man blamed for sparking terror within the city of Austin by sending a series of explosive packages that killed two and injured half-a-dozen others, killed himself in the early hours by the side of a highway – apparently by detonating a device – as authorities closed in on him.
“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 told reporters near the scene.
Police had tracked the suspect, who was white and lived in the town of Pflugerville, to a hotel in Round Rock, a city in the Austin metropolitan area, according to Mr Manley.
The bombings left a 39-year-old father and a 17-year-old boy dead, while a woman in her 40s and a 75-year-old woman were critically injured. Two men in their 20s were wounded in the fourth attack, and a FedEx employee suffered a concussion in the fifth explosion which happened at a sorting office in the city of San Antonio, about 100 miles from Austin.
The Austin American-Statesman newspaper said Conditt was unemployed and had received a degree from Austin Community College’s Northridge Campus. He had worked as a Crux Semiconductor in Austin as a “purchasing Agent/buyer/shipping and receiving”.
It said the suspect appeared to have only a modest social media presence. However, his mother, Danene Conditt, posted a picture in February 2013 to commemorate her son’s completing his high school-level education.
“I officially graduated Mark from High School on Friday. 1 down, 3 to go. He has 30 hrs of college credit too, but he’s thinking of taking some time to figure out what he wants to do….maybe a mission trip,” she wrote. “Thanks to everyone for your support over the years.”
Earlier, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the suspect was a resident of Pflugerville, where he lived with two roommates.
Mr Abbott told Fox News the young man did not have a criminal record and had not served in the military.
“We don’t know if there are any other bombs out there and, if so, how many or where they may be,” said Mr Abbott, who warned people not to pick up suspicious packages.
“We need to go throughout the day and make sure we rule out whether anybody else was involved in this process.”
The governor said the suspect’s two roommates were cooperating with police.
