Warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers discretion advised.
Every day , millions of packages are delivered through the mail .Peope trust the mail system…..and for a sinister mind it could be the perfcet opprotunity. 19 days. six bombs.one ctiy held hostage .
Mark anthony conditt
Mark anthony conditt reportedly took part in conservative outdoors club called righteous Invasion ot truth( RIOT) . in which home – schooled young people studied the Bible and were taught gun kills .
Mark anthony conditt ,born in june 1994 age 23 lived in Pflugerville,Texas, ouside Austin . He grew up in a very religious christian family. the eldest of three children. He anttended Austin community college from 2010 to 2012. leaving without graduating but in good academic , standig. He was home-schooled by his mother , who in february 2013 ” officially graduated ” him from high school .
He wrote blog posts in 2012 ,where he identified as a concervative who was “not that politcally included),He argued for the death penalties and argued against same-sex- marriages. and sex offender registries . He reportedly was part of a club called righteous inviasion of truth (R.O.T.) apparently named after carman song.
The club´s members home -schooled children , practiced survivalism and held bible studies.
Mark Conditt´s house . Pflugerville,Texas. US.
Conditt moved out of his family´s home a few years before the bombings and into a house nearby that he bought with his father and lived i in with two roommates .He spent several years as an emploee of Crux manufacturing. wich make semiconductors , but he was fired eight months before the bombings for poor performance. He had no criminal record .
FBI poster about austin serial bomber shows the two men died in this months attacks .
The bombing spree killed two black men and injured several other people. Anthony house .39 died after picking up a box on his porch on march 2, and Draylen Mason , 17 , was killed and his mother was injured , in a similar incident on march 12.
Conditt is the chief suspect in the string of deadly bombings that struck fear and anxiety into thousands of people.
Jeremiah Jensen,24 told KERA ” In 2012 and 2013 he and i were pretty good friends ,we were home- schooled together in Pflugerville..
Jensen said that conditt exhibited no tendencies then that would have indicated what he is now accused of doing.
He wasn´t like this in high school. jensen said , adding ” he did struggle sociallyas many home -school kids do .”
Conditt´s most recent adress was in Pflugerville ,notheast of downtown Austin – and less than 5 miles from the 1100 block of haverford drive , where the first bomb struck on march 2.
” He´s not psychopath , says friend of austin bombing suspect.
jensen describes conditt as shy ,smart and thoughtful .. Jensen attended church with conditt .
Austin , Texas had been on edge for nearly a month after a series of five bombings- wich authorities believed were connected – killed two and injured several others .
Jeremiah Jensen ( yellow shirt in the middle of the front row.identified condittas the boy in the red V- neck on the left side of the back row.
“When i met mark , he was pretty rough arround the edges ,came of as dominant, pugnacious in nature.” jensen told NPR member station KERA where he was ons an intern. But after getting to knwo him ,Jensen says, “he started to soften , i really started to see him bloom , i always thougt he was going to b loom into a productive person .”
“He was a deep thinker, very smart guy .I just think a lof people didn´t understand him “Jensen said who last saw conditt around four years ago.
“four or five years ago, this was not mark. mark was funny and happy for the most part. He wsas an itense person and could be hard to love but he was a person . He was alive.”
Jensen remembers thinking to himself that conditt had ” alot deeper personality than a lot of people would give him credit for , would stick around to find out.”
Jensen hasn´t had contact with conditt in recent years and says he dosen´t know what would driven him toward a violent path.
” I think that maybe he was lonely when he died . I think that he might have isolated himself”he says ” i dont know why he succumbed to hatred or loneliness or the sadness but i suspect that was what going on”
He ´s not a psychopath” Jensen continues .”something broke him,this was never a thought that this could be how his life ended .”
Investigators trying piece togethe a portrait of accused serial bomber mark cionditt can rely on his own words , including a 25 minutes recording that poilice are treating as a confesssion and a blog that describes his “conservative” political views on topic from the death penalty to terrorism .Police have not realeased a motive for the string of bombings in Austin,Texas.that conditt allegedly masterminded before he blew himself up early -but hey called him a ” very challenged young man
” We had no Idea of the darkness that mark must have been in ” his family said in a statement.
In the 2012 blog , part of a government class he was taking at Austin community college , conditt wrote that he was hoping to hone his debate skilss even though he was “not that politically inclined.” Conditt” i view myself as a conservative, but , dont´think i have enough information to defend my stance as well as it should be defended
The reasons i am taking this class is because i want to understand the US government, and i hope that it will help me clarify my stance , and then defend it .“
he wrote.;althoug the blog. titled ” defening my stance” was written six years before conditt detonated a final explosive in his car during a confrontation with police , the op- ed style entries provide a glimpse into his views.
“living criminals harm and murder, again-executed ones do not.” he wrote in a piece in support of the death penalty.
In commentar on a deal the government made to release an al Qaeda terrorist, conditt was dead -set against it ” i think it is just plain dumb to release a terrorist , much less a senior one. no matter what he can priovide: he wrote. On the isue on gay marriage,he wrote: ” homosexuality is just not natural”commenting on free abortions, he wrote:”if a women does not want a baby ,or is incapable of taking care of one,
she sould not participate in activities that were made for that reason”
But in another post , he suggested eliminating sex offenders registries, saying they punished people who had already served their time or were convicted of minor offense.
“you have to really hate the guy to make him suffer for the rest of his life . he wrote.When he “officially graduated ” high school ,his mother wrote :”he´s thinking of taking some time to figure out what he wants to do .. maybe a mission trip. thans to everyone for your support over the years “
Texas Gov.Greg Abbot confirmed that conditt was unemployed and did not have a criminal record “as best we can tell”
mark anthony conditt./photo from his student ID at austin community college .
” We do, I think , have acces or will tday have acesses to his social media accounts ” abbot told NBC affiliate KXAN.
“It probably will not be the same type of situation as we saw in th aftermath of the shooting in Nevada where the person´s past history was wiped clean.I think we will be able to piece together the puzzle of whothis man was ands why he did what he didd and that will resolve a lot of the uncertainty that stil exists “.abbot said.
some of the answers came when police uncovered a recording Conditt made in which he provided details of the six package bombs he used against others and a seventh he used to kill himself.
The recording Austin police chief Brian Manley , said , does not mention hate or terrorism but is ” the outcry of a very challenged young man talking about challenges in his personal life.”
Neighbors said conditt´s familly appeared to be stable .His parents were involved in a multilevel marketing business and his father , an electrical engineer , ran an online computer business.
” I would describe them as an extremely nice family ” Jeff Rebb said .
“He seemed like a very normal kid , which is what everybody says or most neighbors say in this type of situation” Reeb said .
“but over the years there is nothing i can point to “
” I mean ,this is coming from nowhere .we just don´t know what. I don´t know how many ways to say it but everyone is caught off guard by this.”
Conditt´s uncle,Mike Courtney of Lakewood,colorado, told the assiociated press.
Austin was described by his uncle as a smart and kind ” computer geek”
At a news conference wednesday evening march 21 ,2018. Austin police chief Brian Manley said he considers a 25- minutes recording on a cellphone found with condittt a “confession” in wich conditt talks in great detal about the differences among the bombs he built.
But Manley suggested that there might never be a clear motive. nothing where the explosives were placed or addressed seems random.
In March 2018 , a serial bomber planted five explosive devices in packages and placed one next to a trip wire on a suburban street in Austin,Texas .Unsupecting residents found packages outside their homes.
The package were desinged to explode when they were picked up and moved.Two People were killed and four more injured .
The FBI deployed more than 600 agents and analysts to work with other fedreral and local law enforcement agencies, including the Austin police departement and the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and exlposive.
“The FBI will bring 20 people to a two -man fight.That´s the way we do things ” says FBI speciale aent bomb technician Michael Call” so,if the FBI is going to target you and you´re doing something criminal , terrorist, we will not stop . period.”
Investigators searched through charred bomb framgments and scorched electronics to identify individual parts of the explosive devices.That led them to big box hardware store and hundreds of hours of surveillance footage
.
” A lot of things can happen from a tidbit of information that i come up with,so i always feel that responsibility, that burden of doing my job right.”says analyst Jordana Nesvog,who visited crime scenes as part of the FBI:s Evidence response team.
“When people are getting package bombs delivered to their doorstep, it terrorizes people” say FBI special agent Justin Wilson .”when i was in Afghanistan ,you expect bombs to go off . when you´re in Austin,Texas,
you don´t.”
911operator: Austin 911.
caller: we heard an explosion.
911 operator:female screaming that something exploding asking for EMS.
Michael call FBI special agent bomb technician “we´ve got a problem , we´ve got somebody building devices in Austin and targeting people.
Austin police chief Brian Manley to reporters “there are innocent people getting hurt in this community and it needs to come to a stop .
Christopher combs FBI special agent in charge.”we´ve had serial bombers in this country , but we´ve never had a situation where we had an active bomber setting off this number of explosive devices in this short a period of time.
Jordana Nesvog FBI operations specialists ” leads are coming in information is flying all sorts of directions , we´re jsut trying to identify the bomber .
MARCH 2. 2018 .6.55.a.m. Bomb 1.
Justin Wilson ” The victim was anthony house. he worked,construction amongst other things ,his wife was a schoolteacher whent out of his door.-his routine was to smoke a cigarett. He sees the package, picks it up , the package detonated.his young daughter heard him go outside , then she heard the bomb go off . she was a brave young lady and ran to the neighbors to get help ,his body took the majority of the blast.
Anthony stephan house, 39, was killed on march 2,2018 .when a package exploded.
Michael call” I remember the blood, i remember seeing components at the scene we felt very comortable it was a pipe bomb at this point because we had significant pieces of galvanized pipe. There were components at the scene,that told us it was probably a device that functioned by victim initiation ,meaning the device functions when someone opens a box, moves a box, pulls it offf the ground.
Jordana Nesvog” As san analyst when i am on scene ,i ´m starting to build those pieces of the puzzle ,every pieces of shrapnel from a device it contains information.
Justin Wilson” you start playing it out .who could have possible targeted this individual? did he have any enemies? the victimology of it who, would want to do this to someone?
an active bomber
for three weeks in march 2018, a serial bomber terrorized Austin,Texas. the first explosion killed a 39 years old father . anthony house, s he picked up a package outside his front door.
front porch of anthony house. a 39 old ,father of an 8 years old daughter.
aken identity and that they put the bomb on the porch of the wrong house.
Justin wilson “within the first 45 minutes ,we´re able to deremine the U.S . postal service did not deliver that package.Amazon didn´t deliver the package,that tells us that it was placed by an individual.We knew that somebody had intentionally placed the box.there to target that house.
Michael call “what we found ,was pieces of a mousetrap, we found power cells.AC Delco double A´s .so that was kind of unique to us to see an off brand of battery .the next step the FBI is going to take, or any law enforcement agency is.I need to find out who sells tthose batteries.”
Jordana Nesvog” FBI operations specialist” every part of thatr bomb contains information about the bomber , since i´m on the evidence response team, i was going to that scene as an evidence collector.
Christopher Combs” it´s hard to tell , the first bombing . it´s a serial bomber , kust like it´s hard to tell a serial murderer starts with the first one.
Justin wilson” I opened up a case , worked it alongside with APD homocide and with ATF.
Daniel mueller special agent with bureau of alcohol,tobacco,firearms and explosives.” we soon discovered that the Austin Police departement Narcotics had executed a search warrant four doors up from the bombing location.we thought it might be a case of mistaken identy that the put a bomb on the p0rsch of the wrong house.
Justin Wilson” Then on march 12th ,around the same time in the orning , i get another call……
MARCH 12 ,2018 . 6:44 .a.m. Bomb 2.
MARCH 12 ,2018 . 6:44 .a.m. Bomb 2.
sandra young jones ” oh , i need a EMS please ,something exploded in the house, and my grandson is bleeding everywhere.
911 operator “what exactly happened that caused this?
sandra young jones“they opened a package from outside and it exploded in the house .
Daniel mueller,ATF special agent.”on march 12th ,2018 ,draylen mason went to his front porch.he was going tohis car to go work out with his mother.he saw a box on the front porch ,and he brought it inside.
Michael call ” and when the box was opened the device detonated .
17years old,Draylen mason
Daniel mueller ” It killed Draylen Mason , a 17 ,old ,extremely bright young man and severely injured his mother .
Justin wilson “It breaks your heart .this kid had everything going for him.He was a musical prodigy ,he had scholarship opportunities ,he was an outstanding young man. who would want to target this kid?
Michael call “Immediately we thought ,”oh my gosh.,we have two more like this in the same within 10 days .” that´s rare. that´s very rare.
Austin police chief Brian Manley to reporters “march 12. 2018 ” i´m the chief of polisce here in Austin,Texas ,we are not going to tolerate this in Austin, and you have seen every stop will be pulled out and the federal agencies have all jumped in with us ….
Michael call ” we could assesses that device two and device one were very similar . you´re looking at a pipe bomb again .you´re looking at a device that´s designed to function by the opening of a box. we are thinking ,probably the same perseon or same group of people.
The destruction inside the maison family´s kitchen.
Jordana Nesvog ” Arriving at that house in that quiet little community , i just felt that sense of disbelief, that something, something more was going on here in Austin , we have a killer and this can´t happen again.
Chief brian manley (to the reporters) march 12.2018.”both of the homes were recipients of these packages belonged to African -Americans. so we cannot rule out that hate crime is at the core of this, but we´re not saying that that´s the cause as well.
Michael call ” we are assessing the scene, trying to develop a strategy to collect the evidence.
MARCH 12 ,2018. 11.50. AM. BOMB 3.
Michael call “The Austin P.D bomb squad commander says,”mike,we just had another device g off 5 miles away.”
Jordana Nesvog” I was speechless at that moments ,Austin seemed to be under attack .
911 operator ” Austin 911 , do you need police?fire?
caller “hurry, hurry ,there´s an emergency there was an explosion .
911 operator” tell me exactly what happened.
caller” we don´t know ,we heard an explosion.and my neighbors are ouside on the ground.
Michael Call ” i don´t think any of us were ready for that to occur while we´re still working device two to have another one go off as we´re on the scene. i wasn´t ready for it mentally ,it schoked us.
Justin wilson” Inside, i´m saying ,”we´re under siege .”
Michael call” after 10 days three bombings . things are about to get a lot busier for us and a lot worse.
A Serial bomber?
Christopher Combs “march 12th is when things really changed for the FBI, when that second bomb went off , it was readily apparent to us that we had a problem. and when the third bomb occured,obviously we´re in a serial bomber situation .
First responder “whats going on guys?,hey guys back away .back away”
dispatch audio ” I got elderly female with injuries.she picked up a brown and it exploded.
Justin Wilson “firefighters and the EMS personnel honestly ,were afraid she would not make it . the externt of her injuries were so severe.
Michael Call ” when you see somebody injured like that , especiallyas a result of criminal activity,violent activity , it´s tough to see.
Jordana Nesvog” the job in the moment was to go to that trauma room and collect evidence that was coiming in with the third victim .Looking at the carnage of a trauma room when a victim has been brought in…is- it´s heartbreaking ,honestly .
Esperanza Herrera ” Im not even suposed to be here ,cause i thought i was going to die”
Austin bombing survivor Esperanza Herrera ,outside of the home ,showing where she picked up the package.
Esperanza Herrera ” i walked uip to the box ,i stooped down ,and i picked up the box. when it got to right here…. it exploded”
pointing to scar on cheek .
Esperanza Herrera “i had a nail it gone through . my stomach split open , and then, then of course my arms , lost my finger .
Justin wilson ” that scene was very different than the other two . the bomb that killed anthony house , it wsas in the entry to the foyer of the house , the way it blast it was fairly contained . the bomb that killed draylen was contained within the house ,the bomb that injured Esperanza herrera , the debris field was massive and we´re picking up shrapnel off of rooftops ,well over 200 feet away.
The debriis field from the bomb that injured esparanza herreras was massive.
Michel Call “Pipe bomb again. victim initiation again. however, there was a key difference.
the first two bombs used steel galvanized pipe to house the explosive material . but at the scene of the third bombing , investigators were surprised to also find fragments of a common plumbing pipe made from white plastic PVC.
Michael Call” you can design a pipe bomb within a PVC pipe.you can also designe a pipe bomb inside of steel galvanized pipe. you don´t need both . It doesn´t make much sense to us .
Justin wilson ” with each piece of evidence ,your hoping to help identify who this bomber may be .and through each crime scene we´re able to find certain components that were common amongst all three devices.
Michael call” after three devices going off in 10 days,we´re trying toleverage our resource tof figure out what we need to do to get on top this this before it gets worse.
Daniel mueller “It was quite demoralizing thinking that someone is destroying my city , we´re being attacked.
Christopher Combs ” We were concerned that the people of Austin were starting to get nervous ,were starting to live in fear, because the bombs kept going off .
FBI commander christopher combs .center adressses reporters.
Christoper comb to the reporters ” We want the people of Austin to know that the full resources of the FBI is being brought to bear to help on this one.”
christopher comb :we brought in over brought in over 600 FBI people to stop the bombings , at one point, franly , there was an FBI plane flying from washington to california that was redicted while it was over the Midwest to come her to help us.”
christopher comb: to the reporters” we´re had three devices explode , so whether that´s a hate crime, or terrrorism, or organized crime is somewhat insignificant. what´s singinficant is the effort to find who´s making this devices to make sure that there´s not a fourh or fifth device.
A central command post was created where the FBI, ATF, Austin Police and other agencies combined their in vestigations ,they operated around the clock.”
Christopher Combs “we determined we were going to work this as a partnership ,I like to defer to the local police chief, it´s his town. so we certainly used brian manleys the face of this investigation .”
Chief brian manley to reportes “ march 13 ,2018 . ” we have lost two lives in this community and we have an additional two have been forever changed.”
chief brian mianley./ Austin.
Christopher combs ” it´s his city and his people were getting killed . and then we stand behind him ans supported in every way possible.
Justin Wilson“at this point we´re working our average is 18 to 20 hours of work ,fatigue sets in cognitive overload sets in .
Jordana Nesvog ” when everybody ´s tired and when everything´s frustrating and when bombs are going off , sometimes it´s the simple things that are going to break the case wide open.
Justin Wilson “Based on purchases ,base on their work histories , their backgrounds and the component purchases, we had identified two folks that we´ve felt fairly solid on. we´ve set up to where they were under constsant surveillance for 24 hours a day.
Christopher Combs” We weren´t really sure we were on the right track, so we wanted to speak to the bomber to find out why he was doing this .
Chief manley to the reportes ” we hope this person or persons is watching and will reach out to us before anyone else is injured or anyone else is killed out of this event .
Christopeher Combs ” The FBI´s behavior analyis worked with the chief to try to come up with some language that we felt would interest the bomber .
CHief manley to the reporters ” These events in Austin have garnered worldwide attention and we assure you that we are listening.
Christopher Combs ” We literally were concerned that any moment another bomb would go off.
MARCH 18 ,2018 , 8:32 P.M. BOMB 4
Police boyd cam at scene ” we have a confirmed sharpnel” hey ,grab me a piece of tape righ t here .” it´s a trip wire!” ..”this is the kind of stuff i´ve seen in Iraq. tell EMS to stop right there !”
Michael call ” We´ve got three functional IEDs that kill people in the city of Austin . and now he´s stepped up his game to a booby trap, chanhes things for us immensely.
Christopher Combs ” the night of that trip wire bomb, it was like a war zone ,my greatest concern was if you´ve escalated to the point of trip wire,what´s the next escalation , how are we gonan get in front o f this?
THE TRIP WIRE
Daniel Mueller ,ATF special Agent ” on the trip wire bomb , there´s two young men in their 20s walking down the sidwalk . one of them touched the trip wire. The bomb exploded and metal sharpnel immediately went into their lower extremities.
Until now ,the FBI believed the first three bombs were targeted attacks placed in east Austin at the homes of African American and Hispanic families.But bomb number four was different. It was in southwest Austin The survivors were young white men , and this bomb was triggered by a trip wire on the sidewalk.
Justin Wilson FBI agent ” the trip wire was going to be indiscriminate anyone walking past and tripping that device was going to be your victim, he didn´t care who he targeted . he just wanted to hurt people.
Daniel Mueller” we had to start from zero again.
Christopher Combs FBI commander ” it´s demoralizingwhen we´re not making headway on our investigation, we find needles in haystacks , that´s we do . and when you get to four bombings and you literally don´t have a needle in a haystack, that can we really discouraging.
Michael Call FBI special agent bomb technician ” on march 18th approaching that trip wire scene , number one it´s dark, we can´t see anything and now we´re responding to a booby trap in a neighborhood . that was part of a functioning IED ,we don´t get to make a mistake , one mistake and that´s it .
With the possibility of other bombs hidden in the area , the FBI decided to wait until daylight to search the crimes scene f or clues.
Michael Call ” you can still see to this day there´s a pretty sigificant piece of fence missing ,that was pretty good size of pipe that was propelled from the detonation throught the fence .
He took monofilament line, fishing line , and stretched it across the sidewalk from the device ,to an eyebolt ,a steel eyebolt which he pushed into the ground right about here. That monoficlament line, that fishing line, was about 2 inches off the ground, roughly wich enables it to be relatively hidden. someone walks down the sidwalk, they´re gonna trip that fishing line, initiate the device and cause it to detonate.
Michael Call” It´s kind of like a big”screw you” to the neighborhood because he could have found something else to disguise that device under,that´s tough to deal with, cause you think of your own kids and you think of the kids in the neighborhood here you know, they´re innocent.
But the mangled sign would become a crucial piece of evidence.
Justin Wilson ” it´s terrifying ,however , luckilu by him changinh his MO it gave us the break we´d been needing , the number on it was able to be utilized to help figure out who sells that specific sign.
Jordana Nesvog. ” Investigators were able to idntify a point of sale in Austin area just days berfore,on a dsay i would have been outside woirking on scenen number three, the bomber was inside a store buying supplies to make bomb number four.
the suspect bomber is seen on home depot security video buying the sign used for the trip wire and other supplies .
The image gave the FBI it´s first look at the bomber . now they just needed a name . A momentum was finally turning their way , something happened that stopped them in their tracks ….again.
Michael call “we were just coming off scene four ,so we had s tayed up all night , i remember laying down . and my phone goes off -and it´s the bomb Squad from san antonio.
MARCH 20 ,2018 , 12. 45. AM. BOMB 5.
The fifth bomb exploded on conveyer belt at a FedEx distribution center outside San Antonio . more than an hour from Austin . no one was hurt.
Justin Wilson ” our concern heightened incredibly.
EMS dispatch : There were nails and metals in the bomb. package was going to Austin
.
Justin wilson” the bomber not only changed his MO with a trip wire, now he´s shipping bombs.
Michael call” Getting inside we were blown away by the size of the scene ,we have a building with 35, 000 packages in it . and are any of those dvices? ,how many more has he ut in the mail? i remember we just kind of stood here for a minute, thought ,” oh my gosh, what are we gonna do?”
Investigatiors identified the tracking number from the exploded device. they discovered the bomb was shipped with another package from a FedEx s tore back in Austin.The question now was , where was that secons package and did it containe a deadly bomb?
Michael call“i called the FedEx in Austin and t alked to the manager and said ,”we are looking for a certain box” and he said ” we have that box. it is on the dock for outbound delivery today”
The Austin Police bomb Squad raced to the FedEx distribution center near the airport in Austin and found athe package still intact.
Michael call” I was sent a photo of it from the bomb Squad ,they took some very detailed X-rays , so ,it was two pipes, PVC on the outside, steel galvanized pipe on the inside .
It was the same type of bomb that injured Esperanza Herrera . by using steel galvanized and PVC pipes the device would be even more deadly ,causing maximum damage ,but it wasn´t jsut what was inside the package that intrigued investigators.
Michael call ” The return adresses was kelly killmore, wich was kind of a play on words for kill more people.
Justin wilson ” The adderesses that he was shipping to ,one was a church and a pastor. one was a day spa.
Michael Call ” that person doesn´t even know and will never know that they have a package that was destinated for their house ,kind of steeled our resolve and now we´re gonna get this guy.
Justin Wilson ” first thing in the morning , investigators were ablte to go to the FedEx location that he shipped frm and interviewed the cklerk there.
surveillance image of the bombing suspect in disguise, rigt , sending a package at FedEx.
Justin wilson ” they were able to pull the video tape. the bomber wore a disguse when we walked into the FedEx facility to ship the bombs,he wore red palmed utility gloves ,he was wearing a blond wig, a cap, multiple shirts .
Jordana Nesvog “We were able to see pretty much how tall he is . the wittness described hiim as young white male with a bad complexion. Invetsigators were able to pull an image of the red truck that he had ultimately gotten into when he had left that location.
Bombing suspect mark anthony Conditt truck.
Justin Wilson ” arounde the same time ,home Depot video was coming back to us from theirs exterior cameras ,where he purchased the “drive like your kids liver here” sign. picking up the red ford ranger in the parking lot there.
Jordana Nesvog “I immediately start feeling that energy liek ” oke. we´re gonan get momentum here.”
For nearly three weeks ,investigators had been pouring through purchase records from stores across austin trying to pinpoint who may have bought the components for the bombs. As details of that red truck crossed jordanás desk , something finally clicked.
Jordana Nesvog ” looking at a vehicle record that says that this individual owns a ford ranger that´s red in color it was a 2002 and he lives in the Austin area i just immediately felt that yhose bump i got him”
On march 20 , 2018 nearly three weeks after the first bomb exploded , invsestigators finally had a name for the Austin serial bomber .
Jordana Nesvog ” they had obtained actual footage of the individual that had purchad this yard sign that was used in bomb number four . and they brought that photo into that litttle room where i was sitting and held it up against the driver´s license photo thar i still had on my laptop . and it was a perfect match .
Justin wilson ” he was a white male. 23, years old , dark hear.
Mark anthony Conditt .His name matched a sales recipt from an electronics store where some of the bomb components were purchased . He was from Austin area and owned a red Ford Ranger ujst like the one seen in those surveillance video.
Jordana Nesvog” i remember when i shared that information with justin ,he didn´t hesitate , justin and our SAC christopher Combs just immediately started shifting resources ,figuring out what was going to be in the next plan.
Christopher Combs” When i saw that picture , it didn´t pop up in my mind that, that´s a mad bomber,there was no FBI record ,there was no Austin Police record.if jordana tells me she found him, i have full confidence that jordana is right and when she preseneted ther case to us , it all came together .
With that positive ID,investigators tracked down multiple image of Conditt preparing for the bombings -like driving to home Depots for the red sign used with the tripwire and buying PVC pipe for bomb number three.
Jordana Nesvog ” Now that we had somebody that we could focus on ,all of those 600 investigators now they could be all be focused on one individual ,and that was going to be a win for us.
Christopher combs ” the order was to make sure nobody leaves that house . we didn´t want he bomber to leave and plant another device,but we verren´t suire that he was actually there.
Conditt didn´t have a social media presence, his cell phone wasn´t sending off any signals the FBI could track , and investigators learned he sometimes drove another vehicle besides that red ford ranger .
Justin wilson ” it was determined that we´ll continued looki ng for the bomber , continue pinging the phones and try to locate him . but at the next morning we´re going to execute the arrest warrant search warrant on the house regardless .
Christopher Comps” the crime happened in Austin . the Austin city has benn terrorized,people that died were Austin city residents. sio, i felt the right thing to do was the Austin SWAT team should afflect that entry.
The FBI, ATF , Austin police and dozens of other agencies combined their efforts to operate around the cklock .
Senior Officer robert justesen,Austin team leader SWAT ” the decision was made that seven of us were going to stay in a van up in that area where the suspect residence is and at 7. a.m we would execute the search warrant on his residence.
Back at the command post ,ATF special agent Daniel mueller worked into the night kepping watch for any sign of the bomber . Then , shortly after 1a.m. mark anthony conditt switched on his cell phone.
Daniel Mueller “we pinged his phone and found out where he was.
Investigators swarmed a hotel parking lot on the outskirts of Austin .an aearial unit found Conditt sitting in a car with the engine running.
Justin wilson ” the phone rings . and it´s one of our other agents and his words were” justin ,we got him.” i said. “where?” and he told me the adress i said, “that´s a mile – and-a half- from my house.” i jumped up iout of bed ,get onmy body armor, get on my gear and head out .
Christopher Wilson ” it was a surrial feeling,i´m sitting there , i probably sat there almost 20 minutes watching him , i just got this gut feeling, i said .” he´s making his final plans. this isn´t going to end well .”
Lt Katrina Pruitt ,Austin police departement SWAT. “Originally the plan was to move the armored vehicles into place and block his exit,unfortunately he started moving before the armoired vehicle got there.
DPS helicopter audio ” air to ground,he´s on the move , backing out now.
Robert Justesen ” we loaded into the two vans really quickly,again 90 second to come up with a plan on how we were going to execute it .
DPS helicopter “It´s gonna be taking a right,southbound on 35 frontage.
Robert Justesen” we all swore, if needed , to give our lives for the city . and i think on that night we proved that it wasn´t just words, it wa something we were willing to do .
Taking down the bomber
Robert Justensen “We got notified by the surveillance team that the suspect was pulling out of the parking lot ,i told the guys to load up into the vans , we´re going to do a vehicle assault .
DSP helicopter”I got him eastbound, wall lane,coming up to 35frontage.
Robert justensen” we stopped at a red lidht .and the suspect is the number one vehicle at the red light followed by my van and then the other van, my seargent is still on the phone with her letting her know “hey,ths suspect went mobile,we´re going to have to do the vehicle assault.”
Katrina Pruitt ” i told him , “go, just don´t let him on the interstate”
DPS helicopter ” all right, we´re through the intersection,southbound still on frontage.
Robert Justensen ” i communicated with the other van , let them know”hey,we need to do this now” instructed them to get in front of him and then try to get him to stop .
DPS helicopter ” all right , the van´s made contact with him , van´s made contact with him
Robert Justensen ” I was the first one out ,i moved up to the front passenger window using the barrel of my rifle , i breached the window. thats when he detonated the device inside.
DSP helicopter “got an explosion,got an explosion inside the vehicle.
Austin SWAT radio frequencey” he detonated an explosive”…”back off! back off!” …backing off the vehicle ..” .
Lt Katrina Pruitt ” i hear them say on the radio that an explosion has occured . the sinking feeling of how quiet the radio was and not knowing what had happened or if any body was injured seemed like forever.
Roebert Justesen“Initially,i thought he was just shooting at us,but the force had knocked me back,the other officer fired one round,I step back up,determined that the suspect´s deceased, therés nobody else and then we back away from the vehicle.i had some small scratches from the broken glass,but nothing serious, nothing that didn´t heal in a day or so.
The scene Conditt blew himself up as SWAT team closed in .
Justin wilson” there was exhaustion , there was fatigue, but there was also that , that your´re like, he´s finally stopped and that was a huge pressure off of you .
michael call ” you don´t celebrate a death,but in this case,you celebrate the fact that he stopped one way or another and no one else is gonna get hurt .
christopher Combs “we found the bomber, and that´s great, but this isn´t over .we don´t know , did he put out other devices?
michael call “now we have daunting task of searching his house, we found a significant amount of bomb-making material,we found switches, AC Delco double A batteries , just like the ones he had used in the prior bombings . We found the wig and gloves that the individual had worn. we found also about 100 pounds of improvised explosives that told us that he was probably planning some other activities , some significantly larger activities .
Evidence collected from Conditt´s home .
Justin wilson ” while he was sitting there in the car in the parking lot he was recording on a camera ….
christopher combs ” he made a recording wich was a full confession as to what he did and describes each of the device.
Justin Wilson “he self- identified as a sociopath. that´s his own words his motivationwas not ideological. he was just wanting a thrill and a very sick individual.
Officials brought two bomb-detecting robots to the pflugerville home of the suspect in the austin bombings.Law enforcement personnell surround the home of mark anthony Conditt, the suspect in a string of bombings .( conditt is by no dead)
Conditt died after bomb detonated in his car.march 21 .2018.