The Austin serial bombings occurred between March 2 and March 22, 2018, mostly in Austin, Texas. In total, five package bombs exploded, killing two people and injuring another five. The suspect, 23-year-old Mark Anthony Conditt of Pflugerville, Texas, blew himself up inside his vehicle after he was pulled over by police on March 21. The police response was characterized by multiple commentators as anemic and inadequate, with the possible reason being racial bias.
About Austin serial bombings in brief
The Austin serial bombings occurred between March 2 and March 22, 2018, mostly in Austin, Texas. In total, five package bombs exploded, killing two people and injuring another five. The suspect, 23-year-old Mark Anthony Conditt of Pflugerville, Texas, blew himself up inside his vehicle after he was pulled over by police on March 21, also injuring a police officer. The police response was characterized by multiple commentators as anemic and inadequate, with the possible reason being racial bias. The first three bombs were not mailed but instead placed near victims’ homes. Two of the first three were triggered upon being picked up. The fourth bomb was activated by tripwire. The fifth bomb was triggered in a sorting facility in Schertz. The sixth bomb was discovered and disarmed in a similar facility in Austin. A reward of USD 65,000 was offered for the first bomb that exploded at the first FedEx store in Austin suburb of Sunset Valley early in the morning of March 20. The second bomb was reportedly addressed to a different address. The third bomb was left on the side of the road, attached to a ‘Caution: Children at Play’ sign.
The last bomb was sent by the same person from a FedEx store in Sunset Valley. It was intercepted and defused at a separate FedEx facility in southeast Austin later that day. By March 20, the police had received more than 1,200 calls about suspicious packages. Over 500 agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives assisted local police in the investigation. Governor Greg Abbott had allocated USD 265,000 in government spending for investigation of the bombings on March 20 and March 21. On March 2, police identified the first victim as Anthony Stephan House, 39, and said the death was being treated as suspicious. After the third bombing, the APD began to investigate the connections between the victims. House’s father was close friends with Mason’s grandfather. Both of the elder men attend the same church and are prominent members of the African-American community inAustin. The APD also cautioned the public against opening suspicious packages, and advised them to call the police instead.
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This page is based on the article Austin serial bombings published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 24, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
