Austin Bombings Suspect Dead

Law enforcement Monday morning in the Travis Country neighborhood, site of the fourth bombing (photo by Jana Birchum)

The primary person of interest in the series of bombings that detonated around Austin over the past three weeks is dead. Authorities located him at a hotel in Round Rock yesterday and pursued him down the frontage road until he pulled over and detonated a bomb inside his car.

Interim Police Chief Brian Manley told reporters this morning that law enforcement had known of Mark Conditt, a 24-year-old white male, for a while, but that APD and state and federal agencies became “very interested in him over the past couple of days.” He said officials cannot say for certain whether the man was acting alone, and urged caution in the coming days. Multiple investigations are ongoing.

“We still need to remain vigilant to ensure that no other packages or devices have been left through the community,” he said. “I want the community to remain vigilant, but I also want to look at where we are now, in Round Rock, and remind our neighboring communities and Round Rock and Cedar Park and other cities: We don’t know where he has been in the past 24 hours. We need your communities to remain vigilant as well.”

Manley said one SWAT team member was injured during the course of closing in on the bomb’s detonation, and that another fired a bullet at the car, and is now on administrative leave.

See tomorrow’s Chronicle for more on the city’s bombings.