A day after Austin bombing suspect Mark Anthony Conditt’s confession video was found, police and federal agents continue to search his Texas home for clues that point to a motive.
Mr Conditt died in the early morning hours of 21 March after being tracked to Round Rock, close to his home in Pflugerville. He had detonated an explosive device in his vehicle minutes after police had approached him on the side of the road.
The 23-year-old is suspected to have been involved in the five exploded bombs, two of which were in packages that killed Stephan House and 17-year-old Draylen Mason of Austin and two others that injured Esperanza Herrera, 75, and a worker at a FedEx facility.
The scene outside of Mr Conditt’s home was quiet this morning, underscoring the many continued unknowns in the case. Austin police, the FBI, and the US Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agency do not yet know if the suspect had a partner or accomplice of any kind, if he had sent any more package bombs around the city, or if he had planted any tripwires like the one which injured two cyclists in the Travis Country neighbourhood last weekend.
Neighbour Adrienne Rubel, though “relieved” that police had caught Mr Conditt, told The Independent she was still having trouble sleeping the night after worrying about packages she was set to receive from Amazon and locking her doors. She also joked that she “hoped [all the media and police] will hurry up and leave the neighbourhood” so she could continue to walk her dog Barney, as she does every day, past Mr Conditt’s former street.
“Actually I’m glad they’re here...someone else may get hurt and I don’t want to see that happened,” Ms Rubel said.
“I’m not sure I want to walk [this route] again,” Ms Rubel said of her thoughts this morning, but “life goes on”.
As police officers moved in and out of the vehicles and large ATF truck parked behind the barricade, including the lead detective of the Austin Police Department, Ms Rubel said she did not think they would still have such a heavy presence on the block. Though, it is scaled down from yesterday’s blockade which extended two more streets in either direction as surrounding homes and yards were searched for possible explosive devices.
Mr Conditt shared the home, which is just a few minutes drive from his parents’ home, with two roommates. The two were questioned by authorities but released and police have not made their identities public as yet. He was described as “quiet” and even “standoffish” by another neighbour and several relatives expressed shock at the “deep thinker,” as his grandmother referred to him, would turn to violence.
The 25 minute confession video showed a “the outcry of a very challenged young man talking about challenges in his life that led him to this point”, Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said. He appeared to be a lonely, isolated individual and there has been outcry from activists about why police have not referred to Mr Conditt as a “terrorist”.
The 23-year-old had been homeschooled in the modest Pflugerville home and Jeff Reeb, a longtime neighbour of parents Danene and Pat, said the family was “as normal as I’ve seen”. Mr Conditt was working at a manufacturing company in the area, Crux Manufacturing, but had been sacked in August 2017 for underperformance though his behaviour was not seen as a problem or violent, the company told a local television station. He had also attended Austin Community College from 2010 to 2012, but did not graduate with a degree. In 2012, it appeared Mr Conditt had written blog posts espousing conservative Christian views on the death penalty and gay marriage.
He was also part of a Bible study group where the use of weapons had been discussed among the youth, the majority of whom had also been homeschooled in the Pflugerville area.
Officers on the scene seemed less tense today than previously, but the Austin Police department is continuing to caution residents all over the city to remain vigilant and report any suspicious packages.
