TX - Austin Package Bombs #2

[Isabelle]

It was 2 AM. If he indeed pulled over into the median, I don't believe proper procedure would be to pull up on a bomber like that. They were clearly shooting at him, which is perfectly fine and understandable. But, they should have profiled that he was going to blow himself up.

I’m sure LE considered that possibility. They had to stop him stat!!!

 

[Isabelle]

I'm not sure I understand. Should they have just followed him around as he kept driving? Try to shoot him dead as his car was moving along the road at a high speed with 2 bombs in board? I've done my fair share of second-guessing LE, but not in this case.

ETA: He didn't pull over to the shoulder, he was forced off the road by the pit maneuver.

Good thing LE did that. Who knows if he may have tried to drive into someone’s house???

 

[katydid23]

a single semester of community college from where I am, which is just next door to Texas, was $12,355. ONE semester, not counting books. For a measly 4 classes. Including ******** classes they throw at you that a required to graduate just to milk more money out of you.
Anyway I was talking about the general state of millennial and being a young person in today's world , not the shooter specifically. The shooter's problem was coming from his demographic.

Are you serious? 12k for one semester of Community College???? wow...that is a rip off.

That is more than we paid for our son's state university tuition.

Our local community college, which is one of the premier community colleges in California, charges an average of 1220.00 per semester for in state tuition.


Cost of Attending Los Angeles Pierce College
Woodland Hills, California
In-State Tuition: $1,220 USD per year

 

[EuTuCroquet?]

Lucky Breaks, Video and Pink Gloves Led to Austin Bombing Suspect

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/21/us/austin-bombings-suspect.html?mtrref=www.google.com

Interviews with political leaders briefed on the inquiry, along with briefings from investigators and a federal law enforcement source, shed light on an investigation that saw hundreds of federal agents descend on Austin, gathering and reconstructing bomb fragments, interviewing witnesses and gathering video footage. “We haven’t seen an effort like this in many, many years,” said Christopher H. Combs, special agent in charge of the F.B.I.’s office in San Antonio.

Officials said Mr. Conditt planted one bomb in the upscale Travis Country neighborhood of Austin on Sunday, and tied the bomb’s tripwire to a “Caution: Children At Play” sign — which he himself put next to the sidewalk and that he bought, along with four others, at Home Depot. Investigators used his cellphone data to put him at the scene of explosions in Austin and also got his Google search history. But officials said the crucial first break came when Mr. Conditt mailed the packages at the FedEx store earlier this week.​

 

[gitana1]

That means you are a compassionate soul. Nothing wrong for wanting to know why and feel compassion for all involved.

You are right. However, I never see this level of compassion when the defendant is from certain other groups or backgrounds. Never. No one feels for those dudes or excuses their behavior or minimizes it or even wonders what went wrong. Their family and friends are routinely vilified as having to have known something.

The difference in response from society is stark and total and obvious.

Since we learned of the identity of this coward, I have seen much more compassion and understanding toward him and his family than I have toward his actual victims.

And he's getting an incredible amount of gentle, posthumous publicity. Whole articles about who he was. Article after article. The NY Times is typical. Multiple paragraphs all about this coward and who he was, his background, his education, his family, his religion and his motivations. But his victims? All it says about them is:

"The first bombs hit members of African-American families who were well known locally, killing a 17-year-old boy and a 39-year-old man. Mr. Conditt was white."

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/21/us/mark-anthony-conditt-austin-bomber.html

That's pathetic. It's unconscionable. And IMO it's why our country is so messed up and so many copycats find this a viable way out of their awful lives. This man has become a tragic, pathetic, figure and a hero to countless other alienated young men sitting alone at their computers wondering how to make the world pay for not giving them what they think they're entitled to.

I have a problem with that. When I type the victim's names into the search engine, I come up with only three posts in thread two mentioning Dralyen Mason, a talented 17 year old student and bass player accepted into the selective Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin, and 7 posts come up in thread 1, and for Anthony Stephan House, a 39 year old project manager for Texas Quarries, only two posts come up in thread one when I searched his name and 8 posts come up in thread one, many of those just quoting the very sad few posts that mention these innocent human beings by name.

Ten posts for each victim in 10 days.


But type in the coward's name? 18 posts in less than 10 hours.


Why? Why is he more important to everyone than them?

So here are the forgotten, innocent people I feel the most sorry for, and their families:

Anthony Stephan House, 39

He was a senior project manager at Texas Quarries, a supplier of limestone, quiet, humble and self-assured, a father of a little, 8 year old girl and a graduate of Texas State University. A talented athlete, a well-liked guy who focused on the positive even though he suffered the loss of a brother to murder.
His little daughter was inside the house when he was killed by the explosion outside. Can you imagine?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...st-in-austin-bombings/?utm_term=.56c2305ec3e8

https://www.npr.org/2018/03/21/5955...emembered-for-resilience-radiating-positivity

Draylen Mason, 17

He was “an accomplished musician who was heading to college, but he could also make you laugh before he even opened his mouth”. He was an East Austin College Prep student whose mom was also injured by the blast.
“He was amazing, so passionate and very well-rounded,” said junior Eli Hernandez, 17, who described Mason as something of a role model. “Everyone could see he had a bright future with music.”
“He was every inch a musician . . . the very most remarkable talent in a most remarkable youth orchestra program . . . He carried himself with a kind of quiet maturity that belied his youth,” Dempster said in a statement. He said Mason expected to become a Longhorn in the fall.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...st-in-austin-bombings/?utm_term=.56c2305ec3e8

https://www.npr.org/2018/03/21/5955...emembered-for-resilience-radiating-positivity



These were human beings. Innocent people with their lives ahead of them. Where is the sorrow for them? For their families?

 

[Spellbound]

Suspected Austin bomber used alias 'Kelly Killmore' to ship packages:

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/excl...elly-killmore-ship-packages/story?id=53915904
.


Investigators had a high degree of confidence, at this point, that Conditt was their man. They established surveillance on his home and were getting ready to execute a search warrant at that location.

At 1:30 a.m., Wednesday, Deputy U.S. Marshals with the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force spotted the suspect’s vehicle, a red Nissan Pathfinder, sitting in a parking lot at a hotel in Round Rock, Texas, north of Austin and set up surveillance, ....



Law enforcement sources tell ABC News at approximately 2:10 am, Conditt, exited the hotel, got into his car and drove away. Police quietly pursued.
Investigators believe a short time later, Condit spotted the surveillance and pulled over. Officers gave verbal commands which Conditt did not obey. At 2:21 am, Conditt appeared to reach down, police fired one shot and Conditt detonated a device, killing him, according to law enforcement sources briefed on the matter.

 

[liltexans]

Yes, I read that in the New York Times article

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/21/us/mark-anthony-conditt-austin-bomber.html

If you're home schooling your kids from primary grades through high school age, you're around them all of the time. How do you not make a bond with them when they're at home almost 24/7?

Yes, something sounds off in their family relations, something is off with the parents.

Another quote from the NYT article about his mother:



There's that paranoid war/battle language referencing religion again. Her son had killed 2 people, injured several others, some severely, and she thinks her family is under attack? Wow. I think that's a big clue to her son's mentality.

There was a major parenting failure in this family. The bomber was a sociopath, no doubt, but I'm not letting his family off the hook. They raised this monster.

 

[katydid23]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/austin-bombings-suspect-believed-neutralized-sources-n858576

The Texas bombing suspect's cellphone had a 25-minute video recording in which the young man described how he built each explosive device "with a level of specificity" that the Austin Chief of Police classified it as "a confession" at a press conference late Wednesday.

The phone was found on the suspect after he died in an explosion early Wednesday as police closed in, Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said. In the recording, Mark Anthony Conditt, described the bombs that he allegedly constructed to such a degree that he also explained how they differed, which is information that had not been released, Manley explained

"He does not at all mention anything about terrorism or anything about hate," Manley said, who added that the video did not necessarily clarify a motive.

...
The unusual batteries were the signature trait that allowed investigators to so quickly link the various explosives to Conditt, sources said. One senior law enforcement official said the batteries came from Asia.

"These weren't your store-bought Duracells," another law enforcement official said.

In the recording, the suspect did not mention "anything about terrorism, nor does he mention anything about hate," the police chief said. The message is rather "the outcry of a very challenged young man talking about challenges in his personal life."



So some here, who spoke about how hard it is for young people to get by these days, might be on the right track.

I think if he had been motivated by hate, he surely would have ranted and raved a bit on his good bye video to the world.

 

[Cappuccino]

That is a pretty neighborhood, with the sweet little white church right there. Must feel so surreal.



You are right. However, I never see this level of compassion when the defendant is form certain other groups or backgrounds. Never. No one feels for those dudes or excuses their behavior or minimizes it or even wonders what went wrong. Their family and friends are routinely vilified as having to have known something.

The difference in response form society is stark and total and obvious.

Since we learned of the identity of this coward, I have seen much more compassion and understanding toward him and his family than I have toward his actual victims.

And he's getting an incredible amount of gentle, posthumous publicity. Whole articles about who he was. Article after article. The NY Times is typical. Multiple paragraphs all about this coward and who he was, his background, his education, his family, his religion and his motivations. But his victims? All it says about them is:

"The first bombs hit members of African-American families who were well known locally, killing a 17-year-old boy and a 39-year-old man. Mr. Conditt was white."

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/21/us/mark-anthony-conditt-austin-bomber.html

That's pathetic. It's unconscionable. And IMO it's why our country is so messed up and so many copycats find this a viable way out of their awful lives. This man has become a tragic, pathetic, figure and a hero to countless other alienated young men sitting alone at their computers wondering how to make the world pay for not giving them what they think they're entitled to.

I have a problem with that. When I type the victim's names into the search engine, I come up with only three posts in thread two mentioning Dralyen Mason, a talented 17 year old student and bass player accepted into the selective Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin, and 7 posts come up in thread 1, and for Anthony Stephan House, only two posts come up in thread one when I searched his name and 8 posts come up in thread one, many of those just quoting the very sad few posts that mention these innocent human beings by name.

Ten posts for each victim in 10 days.


But type in the coward's name? 18 posts in less than 10 hours.


Why? Why is he more important to everyone than them?

So here are the forgotten, innocent people I feel the most sorry for, and their families:

Anthony Stephan House, 39

He was a senior project manager at Texas Quarries, a supplier of limestone, quiet, humble and self-assured, a father of a little, 8 year old girl and a graduate of Texas State University. A talented athlete, a well-liked guy who focused on the positive even though he suffered the loss of a brother to murder.
His little daughter was inside the house when he was killed by the explosion outside. Can you imagine?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...st-in-austin-bombings/?utm_term=.56c2305ec3e8

https://www.npr.org/2018/03/21/5955...emembered-for-resilience-radiating-positivity

Draylen Mason, 17

He was “an accomplished musician who was heading to college, but he could also make you laugh before he even opened his mouth”. He was an East Austin College Prep student whose mom was also injured by the blast.
“He was amazing, so passionate and very well-rounded,” said junior Eli Hernandez, 17, who described Mason as something of a role model. “Everyone could see he had a bright future with music.”
“He was every inch a musician . . . the very most remarkable talent in a most remarkable youth orchestra program . . . He carried himself with a kind of quiet maturity that belied his youth,” Dempster said in a statement. He said Mason expected to become a Longhorn in the fall.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...st-in-austin-bombings/?utm_term=.56c2305ec3e8

https://www.npr.org/2018/03/21/5955...emembered-for-resilience-radiating-positivity



These were human beings. Innocent people with their lives ahead of them. Where is the sorrow for them? For their families?

Good post.

Anthony Stephan House and Draylen Mason, Rest in Peace.

 

[Betty P]

That is a pretty neighborhood, with the sweet little white church right there. Must feel so surreal.



You are right. However, I never see this level of compassion when the defendant is form certain other groups or backgrounds. Never. No one feels for those dudes or excuses their behavior or minimizes it or even wonders what went wrong. Their family and friends are routinely vilified as having to have known something.

The difference in response form society is stark and total and obvious.

Since we learned of the identity of this coward, I have seen much more compassion and understanding toward him and his family than I have toward his actual victims.

And he's getting an incredible amount of gentle, posthumous publicity. Whole articles about who he was. Article after article. The NY Times is typical. Multiple paragraphs all about this coward and who he was, his background, his education, his family, his religion and his motivations. But his victims? All it says about them is:

"The first bombs hit members of African-American families who were well known locally, killing a 17-year-old boy and a 39-year-old man. Mr. Conditt was white."

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/21/us/mark-anthony-conditt-austin-bomber.html

That's pathetic. It's unconscionable. And IMO it's why our country is so messed up and so many copycats find this a viable way out of their awful lives. This man has become a tragic, pathetic, figure and a hero to countless other alienated young men sitting alone at their computers wondering how to make the world pay for not giving them what they think they're entitled to.

I have a problem with that. When I type the victim's names into the search engine, I come up with only three posts in thread two mentioning Dralyen Mason, a talented 17 year old student and bass player accepted into the selective Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin, and 7 posts come up in thread 1, and for Anthony Stephan House, only two posts come up in thread one when I searched his name and 8 posts come up in thread one, many of those just quoting the very sad few posts that mention these innocent human beings by name.

Ten posts for each victim in 10 days.


But type in the coward's name? 18 posts in less than 10 hours.


Why? Why is he more important to everyone than them?

So here are the forgotten, innocent people I feel the most sorry for, and their families:

Anthony Stephan House, 39

He was a senior project manager at Texas Quarries, a supplier of limestone, quiet, humble and self-assured, a father of a little, 8 year old girl and a graduate of Texas State University. A talented athlete, a well-liked guy who focused on the positive even though he suffered the loss of a brother to murder.
His little daughter was inside the house when he was killed by the explosion outside. Can you imagine?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...st-in-austin-bombings/?utm_term=.56c2305ec3e8

https://www.npr.org/2018/03/21/5955...emembered-for-resilience-radiating-positivity

Draylen Mason, 17

He was “an accomplished musician who was heading to college, but he could also make you laugh before he even opened his mouth”. He was an East Austin College Prep student whose mom was also injured by the blast.
“He was amazing, so passionate and very well-rounded,” said junior Eli Hernandez, 17, who described Mason as something of a role model. “Everyone could see he had a bright future with music.”
“He was every inch a musician . . . the very most remarkable talent in a most remarkable youth orchestra program . . . He carried himself with a kind of quiet maturity that belied his youth,” Dempster said in a statement. He said Mason expected to become a Longhorn in the fall.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...st-in-austin-bombings/?utm_term=.56c2305ec3e8

https://www.npr.org/2018/03/21/5955...emembered-for-resilience-radiating-positivity



These were human beings. Innocent people with their lives ahead of them. Where is the sorrow for them? For their families?

Such a terrible loss for their families, friends and community. Two bright, kind men - one a father, the other a talented young man with his entire future ahead of him. Incredibly sad, a terrible tragedy.

 

[EuTuCroquet?]

Austin bomber had a list of targets and made a 'confession' video, but motive remains a mystery

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-austin-bombings-suspect-20180321-story.html

Officials described a harrowing scene at the end of the chase. After Austin police forced Conditt off the road to prevent him from getting on a freeway, officers surrounded the vehicle and banged on the windows, at which point Conditt set off a blast that sent officers flying backward. One officer suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

"Your officers, officers you have known for years, charge into what we knew was a dangerous situation," Manley said.

An officer also fired a gunshot at the vehicle, said authorities, who didn't clarify whether that was before or after the explosion or whether Conditt was killed as a result of "significant injuries" from the blast or by a gunshot.

Officials, who discovered a bomb-making room in Conditt's home in the Austin suburb of Pflugerville, still haven't offered any theories for why Conditt embarked on a bombing campaign that left two dead, four injured and an entire city unnerved.

But they discovered at least one chilling piece of evidence after the hunt was over: a "target list" with "additional addresses we believe he was using for future targets," McCaul said. Officials said they still don't know how or why Conditt chose his targets.

"If we had not found this man, there would have been more devices, and more innocent civilians would have been hurt and been killed," said FBI Special Agent Christopher Combs.​

 

[leyash]

This is going to be interesting. He must have been in the area of the Red Roof Inn but not staying there.

But how the heck can they say he pulled over into a ditch? When the photo shows a van rammed into the rear oh MAC veh? And the bullet holes in the car. Scary as heck. Hero's but just looking at photos it doesn't look the same. They did a pit maneuver on that red SUVc. Happens and it was clearly important to do here but reporting is not showing that. Photo does. Other tweets said that they ran up to the car and he blew up the bomb. Then why shoot off the gun? JMHO

From my understanding, when he was stopped, they shot, and then assuming he'd been disarmed and incapacitated, they went up to the car. He was on a VERY busy highway. They likely weren't concerned for their own safety, as much as they were for the people that were on the highway. There's just that small grassy area separating both sides of the highway, so I'm thinking they wanted to nab him before he could flee, or hurt other people (throw a bomb, etc.)

 

[gitana1]

This is a picture that I took with my personal cell phone.

That is a pretty neighborhood, with the sweet little white church right there. Must feel so surreal.

 

[leyash]

I went and played with the kids in the yard, and then went to get ice cream with the fam. Now everyone is winding down. I drove by after we got ice cream and took more pictures, but I just can't seem to get good ones. The police are covering blocks, and I'm a scaredy cat, and too afraid to drive too close. I'll post them in a bit, along with a map showing where I was when I took the pictures in relation to the house.

 

[Philigumbo]

This is going to be interesting. He must have been in the area of the Red Roof Inn but not staying there.

But how the heck can they say he pulled over into a ditch? When the photo shows a van rammed into the rear oh MAC veh? And the bullet holes in the car. Scary as heck. Hero's but just looking at photos it doesn't look the same. They did a pit maneuver on that red SUVc. Happens and it was clearly important to do here but reporting is not showing that. Photo does. Other tweets said that they ran up to the car and he blew up the bomb. Then why shoot off the gun? JMHO


View attachment 131848
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Maybe LE saw him getting ready to detonate it and tried to stop him. They were approaching his car, after all. Or maybe the percussion that blew them back caused LE to fire the “ready to fire” gun by accident.

 

[Doghairrules]

Yes, I read that in the New York Times article

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/21/us/mark-anthony-conditt-austin-bomber.html

If you're home schooling your kids from primary grades through high school age, you're around them all of the time. How do you not make a bond with them when they're at home almost 24/7?

Yes, something sounds off in their family relations, something is off with the parents.

Another quote from the NYT article about his mother:



There's that paranoid war/battle language referencing religion again. Her son had killed 2 people, injured several others, some severely, and she thinks her family is under attack? Wow. I think that's a big clue to her son's mentality.

I agree. The friend tried to explain it away, but I found the explanation lacking.

 

[Philigumbo]

From my understanding, when he was stopped, they shot, and then assuming he'd been disarmed and incapacitated, they went up to the car. He was on a VERY busy highway. They likely weren't concerned for their own safety, as much as they were for the people that were on the highway. There's just that small grassy area separating both sides of the highway, so I'm thinking they wanted to nab him before he could flee, or hurt other people (throw a bomb, etc.)

Looks like he was on the service road and ended up between the service road and the highway. Is that right?

 

[Mistree]

Agree Leyash,

There's a motive in this story, it just hasn't been discovered YET. I think with enough digging the picture will become
clearer on WHY he did this.

Wonder when was the last time he spent time with his family? His grandmother?? His Aunt???
His sisters???
Maybe he walled himself off as he spiraled down into his dark pit. Wonder what his roommates would say about his
behavior. Surely with enough questioning officals can paint a better picture of what happened to him.

The questions are exactly what contributed to the FBI developing the an awesome BAU!
People study crimes to this day to predict, interpret and understand these questions to help accomplish a swift resolution just as seen by this case. I for one am thankful for the skills studied, and put to use in a positive way.

 

[gitana1]

I agree. The friend tried to explain it away, but I found the explanation lacking.

Yup. There's that "cosmic war" reference. You drill that into your kids' heads and if there is a touch of criminality or instability in them, bad things can happen.

 

[x_files]

You are right. However, I never see this level of compassion when the defendant is from certain other groups or backgrounds. Never. No one feels for those dudes or excuses their behavior or minimizes it or even wonders what went wrong. Their family and friends are routinely vilified as having to have known something.

The difference in response from society is stark and total and obvious.

Since we learned of the identity of this coward, I have seen much more compassion and understanding toward him and his family than I have toward his actual victims.

And he's getting an incredible amount of gentle, posthumous publicity. Whole articles about who he was. Article after article. The NY Times is typical. Multiple paragraphs all about this coward and who he was, his background, his education, his family, his religion and his motivations. But his victims? All it says about them is:

"The first bombs hit members of African-American families who were well known locally, killing a 17-year-old boy and a 39-year-old man. Mr. Conditt was white."

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/21/us/mark-anthony-conditt-austin-bomber.html

That's pathetic. It's unconscionable. And IMO it's why our country is so messed up and so many copycats find this a viable way out of their awful lives. This man has become a tragic, pathetic, figure and a hero to countless other alienated young men sitting alone at their computers wondering how to make the world pay for not giving them what they think they're entitled to.

I have a problem with that. When I type the victim's names into the search engine, I come up with only three posts in thread two mentioning Dralyen Mason, a talented 17 year old student and bass player accepted into the selective Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin, and 7 posts come up in thread 1, and for Anthony Stephan House, a 39 year old project manager for Texas Quarries, only two posts come up in thread one when I searched his name and 8 posts come up in thread one, many of those just quoting the very sad few posts that mention these innocent human beings by name.

Ten posts for each victim in 10 days.


But type in the coward's name? 18 posts in less than 10 hours.


Why? Why is he more important to everyone than them?

So here are the forgotten, innocent people I feel the most sorry for, and their families:

Anthony Stephan House, 39

He was a senior project manager at Texas Quarries, a supplier of limestone, quiet, humble and self-assured, a father of a little, 8 year old girl and a graduate of Texas State University. A talented athlete, a well-liked guy who focused on the positive even though he suffered the loss of a brother to murder.
His little daughter was inside the house when he was killed by the explosion outside. Can you imagine?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...st-in-austin-bombings/?utm_term=.56c2305ec3e8

https://www.npr.org/2018/03/21/5955...emembered-for-resilience-radiating-positivity

Draylen Mason, 17

He was “an accomplished musician who was heading to college, but he could also make you laugh before he even opened his mouth”. He was an East Austin College Prep student whose mom was also injured by the blast.
“He was amazing, so passionate and very well-rounded,” said junior Eli Hernandez, 17, who described Mason as something of a role model. “Everyone could see he had a bright future with music.”
“He was every inch a musician . . . the very most remarkable talent in a most remarkable youth orchestra program . . . He carried himself with a kind of quiet maturity that belied his youth,” Dempster said in a statement. He said Mason expected to become a Longhorn in the fall.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...st-in-austin-bombings/?utm_term=.56c2305ec3e8

https://www.npr.org/2018/03/21/5955...emembered-for-resilience-radiating-positivity



These were human beings. Innocent people with their lives ahead of them. Where is the sorrow for them? For their families?

I agree. I did notice a shift online and I'm not sure it would have been the same if he was not white.
It depresses me.
Victims are forgotten in the chaos.
thanks for your post.