ROUND ROCK, TX (RNN) – Law enforcement officials continue to make sure Austin is safe in the wake of serial bombing suspect Mark Anthony Conditt.
Two people lost their lives from a series of bombings in and near Austin, TX, that took place from March 2 to March 20, and five others suffered injuries in the incidents.
As police investigate the suspect’s home in nearby Pflugerville, nearby homes are being evacuated, the Associated Press reported, as authorities prepare to use a robot to deal with possible explosives.
A law enforcement source has identified Conditt as the serial bombing suspect who blew himself up after a short pursuit.
The city of Pflugerville said city hall was closed as a section of downtown is being evacuated amid the bombing investigation.
A SWAT vehicle arrived at Mark Conditt’s home in Pflugerville, 18 miles north of Austin on Wednesday, media at the scene reported.
“Get your hands up,” the team said to whoever may still be in the house, according to a WFAA reporter.
Authorities are conducting a followup investigation into suspicious packages, including at a FedEx location near the airport, Austin PD reported.
Pflugerville City Hall is closed. Residents have been evacuated from downtown Pflugerville west of Railroad and North of Pecan. Please stay clear of the area as agencies continue to work.
— Pflugerville, TX (@PflugervilleTX) March 21, 2018
The facility was temporarily evacuated during the search as a precaution.
Rep. Michael McCaul, a Republican who represents Austin on Capitol Hill, said the suspect was caught on surveillance video at a FedEx store, and that officials were able to glean his license plate number, identify him and track what he bought at Home Depot, the AP reported.
Public safety personnel came to Austin High School and “cleared” it as a part of a followup investigation, the school district tweeted, adding “students and staff are safe.”
A law enforcement official said Conditt was seeking additional Austin area addresses before his death, the Austin American Statesman said.
FBI has brought in SWAT team This is bomber Mark Conditt’s house. Conditt is now dead but they are also looking to see if he had help. SWAT yelled to someone “Get your hands up.” They are preparing to enter house. pic.twitter.com/9Ap0l3Fbt0
— Rebecca Lopez (@rlopezwfaa) March 21, 2018
Pflugerville Mayor Victor Gonzales told the AP that Conditt lived two blocks away from him, but he did not have a personal relationship with the family.
Conditt’s family is “devastated and broken at the news that our family could be involved in such an awful way,” an aunt of Conditt’s said in a statement to CNN on Wednesday.
“We had no idea of the darkness that Mark must have been in. Our family is a normal family in every way,” said the aunt. “We love, we pray, and we try to inspire and serve others. Right now our prayers are for those families that have lost loved ones, for those impacted in any way, and for the soul of our Mark. We are grieving and we are in shock.”
Mary Conditt, Mark Conditt’s grandmother, said of the suspect: “If anything, he’s low-key and peaceful.”
Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said in an early Wednesday morning news conference that the deceased suspect responsible for the serial bombings was a 24-year-old male but declined to identify him.
Neighbors said the man was 23, was homeschooled, and attended Austin Community College but did not graduate.
He was employed at Crux Semiconductor in Austin as a “purchasing agent/buyer/shipping and receiving,” the Austin American Statesman said.
Crux Semiconductor hired him when he was 19 and fired him last August for not meeting job expectations, the owner told KVUE.
The owner of Crux Semiconductor described him as a “quiet and introverted” man who went about his job in his own way. He was never confrontational.
Austin residents should remain vigilant as law enforcement officials are concerned that there may be additional devices in the community, Christopher Combs of the FBI said.
“We do not understand what motivated him to do what he did,” Manley said, nor do they know if he worked alone or with accomplices.
Through teamwork with state and federal officials, “we ultimately located a vehicle that the suspect was driving at a hotel in Round Rock” on Tuesday night, Manley said.
Police reportedly used a blend of security video, cellphone technology and receipts to track down the suspect.
On Tuesday, multiple law enforcement officials took position around the hotel, waiting for tactical vehicles to arrive for the safe apprehension of the suspect.
While authorities awaited the vehicles’ arrival, the suspect drove away from the hotel. Police followed, Manley said.
He then pulled off the road onto the frontage road.
As members of law enforcement approached his vehicle, he blew it up, the chief said. A law enforcement officer sustained minor injuries, getting knocked back by the blast.
Another law enforcement member discharged his weapon.
Manley said authorities were able to discern similarities between the bombs.
In a tweet at 5:30 a.m. ET, the Houston division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said officials were at the scene with police and FBI agents.
The Austin Police Department tweeted early Wednesday morning that they were working an officer-involved shooting in Round Rock, a city about 19 miles from Austin.
President Donald Trump congratulated law enforcement officers Wednesday, following the news of the suspect’s death.
AUSTIN BOMBING SUSPECT IS DEAD. Great job by law enforcement and all concerned!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 21, 2018
A package bomb killed 39-year-old Anthony Stephan House on March 2 at his home and another package bomb claimed the life of 17-year-old Draylen Mason at his mother’s home on March 12.
The blast also injured Mason’s mother.
The third package bomb detonated a few hours later on March 12 and left one person injured.
A tripwire-activated bomb detonated near a road in Travis County on March 18 and injured two people. Those victims are expected to fully recover.
The fifth device, another package bomb, exploded in a FedEx ground facility in Schertz, TX, on March 20 and injured one person. FedEx confirmed that the person responsible for sending it also shipped a second package, a sixth device.
It was secured in in a FedEx facility near the Austin airport and turned over to law enforcement.
Authorities originally believed the attacks could be racially motivated, but the fourth bomb appeared random, rather than targeted, the AP reported.
Police responded to another incident, initially reported as a seventh bomb, on March 20, but determined that an incendiary device had “initiated” at an Austin Goodwill, injuring one employee. Police said they believed the incident was unrelated.
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