Residents in Austin, Texas are breathing a sigh of relief after police say the suspected bomber who has terrorized the city all month has been killed.
As a SWAT team closed in on him on the side of the road, police say 24-year-old Mark Anthony Conditt detonated a bomb, killing himself in the process. A member of the SWAT team also fired on the suspect.
Austin officials are happy Conditt’s alleged bombing spree has come to an end,
“As a community, we’re just really relieved and just incredibly thankful for this army of law enforcement that has been in our community for the last week or so.” Austin Mayor Steve Adler said on Today.
While residents in the city are happy Conditt will no longer be able to harm anyone else, Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said Austinites should still be vigilant; police aren’t sure if the suspect was able to plant more bombs before being killed.
“This is the culmination of three very long weeks for our community,” Manley said. “We don’t know where the suspect has spent his last 24 hours, and therefore we still need to remain vigilant to ensure no other packages or devices have been left in the community.”
During his reign of terror, many worried Conditt, who is white, was targeting people of color. The first three bombs killed two Black people — 39-year-old Anthony Stephan House and 17-year-old Draylen Mason— and severely injured Esperanza Herrera, an elderly Hispanic woman. The last bomb, set off by a tripwire, injured two white men. Mayor Adler said they don’t yet know what set Conditt off.
“As for motive, we don’t know at this point,” he said. “The investigation is continuing and we’re asking people to remain vigilant and to still identify things in the community that seem suspicious or out of place.”