Motive still unclear in Austin bombings

After viewing a 25-minute cellphone video left behind by the suspect, police in Austin, Texas, said they still didn’t know the motive behind five bombings in central Texas this month. Mark Anthony Conditt, a 23-year-old unemployed college dropout, killed himself with an explosive device early Wednesday as police moved in to arrest him. Investigators tracked him down using surveillance video from a FedEx store where he mailed a package bomb. The bombs he is accused of making killed two people and injured four others. Conditt lived in Pflugerville, a suburb of Austin, in a house with roommates. He attended Austin Community College from 2010 to 2012. The Austin-American Statesman interviewed a friend of Conditt’s who said the suspect used to attend The Austin Stone Community Church. The church released a statement saying it had no record of any recent church activity involving Conditt. Neighbors of his family said the suspect had been homeschooled and regularly came home for visits. Conditt’s family released a statement saying they had “no idea of the darkness that Mark must have been in.” Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said the recovered cellphone video “is the outcry of a very challenged young man talking about challenges in his own life.” Police declined to release the footage. Tim Lambert, president of the Texas Home School Coalition, said in a statement that Conditt came from a Christian home but “reportedly walked away from his faith several years ago.” He added that the actions of the suspect point to a fallen world: “Unfortunately, no form of education, public or private, can ensure a tragedy like this will never happen.”