Austin Texas Bomber Explodes

03-21-2018 - The suspect was identified as Mark Anthony Conditt of Pflugerville, Texas, according to the local CBS television affiliate and Austin American-Statesman newspaper, citing unnamed law enforcement sources. Reuters could not confirm the suspect's identity.

A series of bombings beginning on March 2 left Austin, a fast-growing city of 1 million people, on edge as the bomber moved from parcels left on doorsteps to one activated by a trip wire to at least two sent via FedEx.

By Sunday, bewildered investigators had publicly asked the serial bomber to reach out to them. By Tuesday they had identified a suspect, Texas Governor Greg Abbott told Fox News.

Police tracked him to a hotel about 20 miles (32 km) north of Austin and were following his vehicle when he pulled to the side of the road and detonated a device, killing himself, Austin Police Chief Brian Manley told reporters near the scene.

"The suspect is deceased and has significant injuries from a blast that occurred from detonating a bomb inside his vehicle," Manley told reporters. He declined to further identify the suspect, except to say he was white.

Law enforcement officials did not respond to calls seeking to confirm the suspect's name.

"We've known for a couple of days who the suspect likely was," Abbott told Fox. "Law enforcement is at his house in Pflugerville where we are learning whether or not that was the location he was making his bombs."

The governor added that the suspect is believed to have lived with two roommates, who are not currently considered suspects, and was not a military veteran.

Public records showed that Conditt lived with his parents, William and Danene Conditt, until 2017, when he moved into a house about a mile (1.6 km) away.

In 2013 Danene Conditt posted a photo of a man she referred to as Mark on Facebook and said she home schooled her children.