Austin bombings

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The Austin bombings were a series of five explosives that occurred from March 2 to March 20, 2018, mainly in the city of Austin , Texas . Two people were killed and five others injured. The Tatverdächtigte committed suicide on 21 March 2018 by the firing of an explosive device in his vehicle suicide , as it wanted to arrest the police. He was identified as Mark Anthony Conditt, a 23-year-old man from Pflugerville , Texas.

Bomb attacks

The first act occurred in Austin on March 2, 2018, in which a 39-year-old man was killed. He had picked up a parcel bomb disguised as a postal parcel that had been deposited in front of his house.

On March 12, a 17-year-old was killed by a package bomb. His mother was injured in the explosion. Another package bomb explosion that day injured a 75-year-old who was visiting her mother. The first three package bombs were deposited in front of the homes of the victims. Two package bombs were triggered by picking up the package, the third by opening the package.

On March 18, two men, aged 22 and 23, were injured on the street in a residential neighborhood in southwest Austin in a booby trap triggered by a tripwire. After this fourth explosion, authorities warned the public about a "serial bomber" that was more proficient than originally thought.

On March 20, a parcel bomb exploded on the premises of the FedEx shipping company in Schertz, Texas, injuring an employee. The package was addressed to an Austin address. That day, another suspicious package was found and defused at a company headquarters in southeastern Austin . Both packages were posted by the same person at a FedEx store in Sunset Valley, Texas.

Investigations

The Austin local police were assisted in the investigation by over 500 FBI and ATF officers . Because of the sheer number of acts performed in a short period of time, the use of package bombs, and the apparent skill in making explosives, the FBI considered the perpetrator to be a highly organized and efficient person. The police initially offered a reward of $ 65,000 and later increased the amount to $ 115,000.

First theories and success of the investigation

After the first bombing, authorities announced that they were investigating the case as a possible murder. Authorities believed an isolated incident occurred in the Austin residential area. It was initially suspected that the bomb was intended for someone else, possibly a suspected drug dealer in the neighborhood. The police also did not rule out that the victim made the bomb himself and accidentally detonated it.

After the third bomb attack, police began investigating the links between the victims. There were links between individual victim families as prominent members of the Austin African American community. The package bombs were addressed to addresses on the east side of Austin, where mostly residents of African American and Latin American roots live.

The police discovered suspect Mark Anthony Conditt through suspicious transactions on the Internet and witness statements. He was also identified from surveillance cameras in a FedEx store. The police tracked him down on March 21, 2018 in a hotel in the suburb of Round Rock . He evaded arrest and escaped in his vehicle. When the police caught him on an expressway and SWAT officers approached, Conditt detonated an explosive device in his vehicle, killing him and injuring a SWAT officer.

According to the police, it is not yet known whether the suspect was a lone perpetrator or whether there are other perpetrators. The FBI warned of possible further parcel bombs being deposited or abandoned.

Suspect

The suspect Mark Anthony Conditt lived in Pflugerville outside of Austin. He grew up as the oldest of three children in a strongly religious, Christian family. From 2010 to 2012, he attended Austin Community College while otherwise receiving home schooling from his mother. In February 2013, Conditt officially graduated from high school . In 2012 he declared that he saw himself as conservative but not politically minded. In his statements at the time, he advocated the death penalty and spoke out against same-sex marriages. A few years ago he moved out of his parents' house and lived with two roommates in a nearby house that he had bought with his father. Conditt worked for several years as an employee at a company that manufactures semiconductors . Eight months before the bombings, he was released for poor performance.

The police found a 25-minute video on Mark Anthony Conditt's mobile phone describing the construction of the explosive devices, which the police consider a confession . He did not name a motive for the crime. The Austin Police Chief said of the video that it was "the cry of a very distraught young man," "reporting the difficulties in his life that brought him to this point." The video does not contain any indications of a terrorist background or a hate crime .

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