A neighbor who watched the Austin bombing suspect grow up says he «always seemed like he was smart» and «polite».
The Latest on the Austin bombings (all times local):
10:35 a.m.
A neighbor who watched the Austin bombing suspect grow up says he «always seemed like he was smart» and «polite.»
Jeff Reeb said Wednesday that he’s lived next to the parents of Mark Anthony Conditt for about 17 years and that they are good neighbors.
Reeb says Mark Conditt and his grandson played together into middle school and that Conditt still visits his parents regularly.
The parents live a few miles from the Pflugerville home where Mark Conditt lived with roommates. Reeb says Conditt was in the process of gutting the house and remodeling it, which meant a lot of hammers and nails around frequently.
He says police had an unmarked car parked near Conditt’s parents’ house overnight into Wednesday. He says Condit’s father, whom he called Pat, worked as an Amway distributor and also bought electronics on the side to resell.
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10:25 a.m.
A spokeswoman for a community college says the suspected Austin bomber was a student there from 2010 to 2012 but didn’t graduate.
Austin Community College spokeswoman Jessica Vess said in an email Wednesday that Mark Anthony Conditt hadn’t attended the school since that time. She says the school is working with Austin police to provide any information they need.
A law enforcement official has told the AP that the suspect was Conditt. The official, who has been briefed on the investigation, spoke on the condition of anonymity because the official wasn’t authorized to discuss the case publicly.
Conditt lived in Pflugerville, which is just northeast of Austin.
Authorities say Conditt blew himself up overnight in his vehicle in a hotel parking lot in another suburb as a SWAT team closed in on him. Investigators believe Conditt made all of the bombs used in the four Austin attacks, which killed two people and injured four others.
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10:20 a.m.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says that at this point, investigators believe the Austin bombing suspect acted alone.
Abbott told Austin’s KXAN-TV on Wednesday that «everything that we have right now shows he acted alone,» but he cautioned that the investigation is ongoing.
Abbott says the suspect had no known military experience or criminal record.
He also says it is unclear if the bombs were made at the suspect’s house or perhaps at the motel where he was arrested.
Abbott says investigators were watching the suspect for 24 hours, that his cell phone pinged in several different locations and that a key break in the case came when witnesses saw him at several stores wearing a blonde wig that looked odd to others.
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9:50 a.m.
The Austin bombing suspect doesn’t appear to have left much of a trail on social media, but in 2012 posts on what appears to be his personal blog he expressed opinions about a range of topics, including gay marriage.
A law enforcement official identified the suspect as Mark Anthony Conditt of Pflugerville. The official, who has been briefed on the investigation, spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.
Texas officials say Conditt blew himself up early Wednesday north of Austin as authorities closed in on him, bringing an end to a three-week manhunt.
A blogger who identified himself as Mark Conditt, of Pflugerville, made six entries, all in 2012, in which he wrote that he thinks gay marriage should be illegal and that sex offender registries should be eliminated.
He also described his interests as cycling, tennis and listening to music.
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8:45 a.m.
The mayor of the suspected Austin bomber’s hometown says the suspect lived only two blocks away from him in a part of the city known as Old Town.
Pflugerville Mayor Victor Gonzales told The Associated Press on Wednesday that police had surveillance on the home overnight Tuesday, though he said he didn’t personally know the family.
Gonzales says he had concerned neighbors approaching him because of the large police presence in the neighborhood. He says he let them know everything would be OK.
Authorities say the suspect blew himself up overnight in his vehicle in a hotel parking lot in another suburb as a SWAT team closed in on him.
A law enforcement official has told the AP that the suspect was Mark Anthony Conditt. The official, who has been briefed on the investigation, spoke on the condition of anonymity because the official wasn’t authorized to discuss the case publicly.
Investigators believe Conditt made all of the bombs used in the four Austin attacks, which killed two people and injured four others.
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8:35 a.m.
A law enforcement official has told The Associated Press that the dead Austin bombing suspect was Mark Anthony Conditt.
The official, who has been briefed on the investigation, spoke on the condition of anonymity because the official wasn’t authorized to discuss the case publicly.
Pflugerville Mayor Victor Gonzales told the AP that the bombing suspect lived in his city, which is a suburb of Austin not far from the site of the first of four bombings.
Authorities earlier described the suspect only as a 24-year-old white man.
Associated Press writer Sadie Gurman in Washington contributed to this report.
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8:25 a.m.
Reporters have converged on a neighborhood in an Austin suburb where the bomber who died overnight lived.
Police have blocked off the roads around Wilbarger and Second streets in Pflugerville, which is just north of Austin and not far from where a package bomb killed a 39-year-old man on March 2.
Pflugerville Mayor Victor Gonzales told The Associated Press that the bomber lived in his city, two blocks from his house.
Jay Schulze, who has lived in the Pflugerville neighborhood for 13 years, says he was out jogging last night when he was stopped by police and asked about the bombings. He says there has been a large police presence in the neighborhood since last night and that police flew drones over a home from about 9 p.m. until about 3 a.m.
He described the home over which the drones were flying as «a weird house with a lot of people coming and going» and a bit rundown.
Authorities have not released the dead suspect’s name, describing him only as a 24-year-old white man.
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6:40 a.m.
Austin’s mayor is urging residents to remain vigilant, despite the death of a man suspected in this month’s string of bombings in Texas’ capital city.
Mayor Steve Adler said Wednesday on NBC’s «Today» show that: «We’re just really relieved and just incredibly thankful for this army of law enforcement that has been in our community here for the last week or so.»
Authorities say the suspect blew himself up in his vehicle overnight as a SWAT team closed in on him in a suburban Austin hotel parking lot. They haven’t released his name and say they don’t know his motives, but they described him as a 24-year-old white man.
Adler is asking residents to continue to report anything that seems suspicious or out of place.
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6:30 a.m.
A federal agent says it’s «hard to say» whether the dead suspect in this month’s Austin bombings was acting alone.
Fred Milanowski, agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms’ Houston Field Division, told reporters Wednesday that investigators believe the dead suspect built all of four of the package bombs that have blown up in Austin since March 2.
Authorities say the 24-year-old suspect blew himself up in his vehicle overnight as a SWAT team closed in on him in a suburban Austin hotel parking lot.
Milanowski says investigators aren’t completely convinced that there aren’t other explosive devices «out there,» and that they want the public to remain vigilant.
He called the bomb that killed the suspect «a significant explosive device.»
Asked if the suspect built bombs prior to the start of the spree in Austin, Milanowski responded: «We know when he bought some of the components. It’s hard to say whether he was building along the way»
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5:55 a.
