AUSTIN – A newly-released arrest warrant affidavit details the evidence linking Mark Conditt to a string of bombings in and around Austin that left two people dead and several others injured.
Conditt, 24, used a credit card in his name to buy five battery holders matching those used in each of the six homemade package bombs that went off in a span of 18 days last month.
The affidavit also alleges that Conditt may have used signage to conceal some of the explosives. In at least one instance in Travis Country on March 18, investigators believe he hid explosives with a “drive like your kids live here” sign.
Conditt and his red pickup truck were seen at a Home Depot in Round Rock on March 13 paying cash for several signs, including one reading “drive like your kids live here.” Preliminary information indicated the March 18 bomb was detonated with a tripwire.
TIMELINE: How the Austin bombings happened
Also included in the Home Depot purchase was a six-pack of work gloves that he was seen wearing at the FedEx location where Conditt allegedly made his last delivery of an explosive device on March 18.
A clerk at that store said Conditt was also wearing a wig when he shipped two packages.
A probe of phone records revealed Conditt used a cell phone registered to his father, the affidavit says. The phone’s location at the times of the explosions couldn’t be traced due to a lack of call data, but investigators say he did use the phone to call a garage door company, which may have supplied wiring used to trigger explosives.
The redacted affidavit, filed 20 days after the last explosion, indicates Conditt is believed to be solely responsible for each of the six bombings. According to the affidavit, “multiple” people have been investigated for ties to the series of attacks, but that none are believed to have been involved.
Conditt blew himself up as SWAT officers closed in on his pickup truck to take him into custody.