Police have identified the Austin bombing suspect as Mark Anthony Conditt. No other details have been released. CNN spoke to Tony Plohetski, an investigative reporter for the Austin American-Statesman who says local police and federal agents used a lot of old-fashioned shoe leather to find a suspect:
- “Agents fanned out throughout the city of Austin going to big box retail stores as well as locally owned stores trying to determine whether or not there were suspicious purchases. They were “going through receipts and going through sales records from those stores.”
They were looking for someone who bought bomb-making materials. It worked. Police said sales receipts became critical evidence.
- “Federal search warrants were then used to get the man’s IP address, which showed that he’d been making “suspicious” Google searches, Plohetski said.”
But, the big break came when Conditt shipped a device from a FedEx store which was recorded on surveillance cameras.
BREAKING: Austin serial bombing suspect identified as 24-year-old Mark Anthony Conditt, according to two law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation pic.twitter.com/p7s2SR2La2
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) March 21, 2018
NBC News has talked to Conditt’s neighbors in Pflugerville, Texas, a suburb of Austin.
"He seemed like a very normal kid … Over the years there's nothing I can point to."
NBC News' @KerryNBC speaks with neighbors of Austin bomber suspect Mark Anthony Conditt pic.twitter.com/zyOrfLX6pz
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) March 21, 2018
Police are still searching for a motive in the bombings.