Mark Conditt reportedly filmed a 25-minute long video where he confessed to constructing the bombs that took two lives in Austin this month, before the took his own life on Wednesday morning.
Conditt was identified as the suspect in the killings after investigators from the ATF and the FBI reverse-engineered his homemade explosives. As a SWAT team approached him on the road in the early hours of Wednesday morning, he detonated one of those bombs inside the car with himself, leaving investigators to wonder whether he was the killer and what his motives were.
Videos by PopCulture.com
Interim Austin Police Chief Brian Manley told reporters on Wednesday night that Conditt recorded the lengthy video on his cell phone once he realized that law enforcement was closing in on him. According to a report by CNN, the phone was in Conditt’s possession when he died by suicide.
“It is the outcry of a very challenged young man talking about challenges in his life that led him to this point,” Manley told reporters from the outlet. “I know everybody is interested in a motive and understanding why. And we’re never going to be able to put a (rationale) behind these acts.”
Manley also said that Conditt’s video made no reference to any terror groups or hateful ideologies.
Federal agents also went to Conditt’s home on Wednesday, hoping to find any other explosives the 24-year-old may have left behind. Police interviewed Conditt’s roommates, trying to discern whether the killer was working alone. Neither of the roommates were arrested.
Parts of Conditt’s hometown, Pflugerville, Texas, were evacuated early in the morning, though police didn’t elaborate on why. CNN spoke to Fred Milanowski, the ATF’s special agent in charge, who said that components for making the bombs were found in one room of Conditt’s home. However, no functional explosives were found, and all of the materials were confined to one room.
Conditt’s bombs terrorized Austin for 19 days. In that time, he took two lives and injured two others with his explosives. He was spotted dropping off two packages at a FedEx location in surveillance footage. He was wearing a hat, a wig, and a pair of gloves. One of the parcels later exploded on a conveyor belt in the shipping company’s facility.
Investigators said that Conditt’s bombs were made up of common household items, including “mousetrap” or “clothespin” switches. Agents were forced to comb through receipts from local big-box stores, looking for purchases that were suspicious.
