Austin bombing suspect left behind a video 'confession'
Police continue to search through the suspect's home. Jonathan Hunt reports from Texas.
Austin bombings suspect Mark Anthony Conditt was labeled a “domestic terrorist” by the city’s police chief on Thursday.
The comment from Austin Police Chief Brian Manley came during a meeting focused on the response by the community and by officials to the string of attacks that terrorized Texas throughout March.
"I actually agree now that he was a domestic terrorist for what he did to us,” Manley said, as he and other panelists fielded questions.
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The admission didn't go far enough for some present, who continued to ask questions about racism in Austin.
Since the incident began, Manley has refrained from classifying the attacks as terrorism, noting the ongoing investigation.
Conditt died amid a confrontation with police in the early hours of March 21, during which he detonated one of his own explosive devices. Following the conflict, authorities recovered a roughly 25-minute recording made by the suspect. The contents, Manley said, were “the outcry of a very challenged young man talking about challenges in his personal life.”
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He added that Conditt did not mention “anything about terrorism, nor does he mention anything about hate.” The 23-year old did not mention any racial motivation in his recording, but investigators previously said they were not ruling out the bombings as a hate crime.
On the recording, Conditt called himself a "psychopath," but otherwise offered little about his motivations for the bombings. Authorities have not released that recording.
The explosives killed Anthony Stephen House, 39, and Draylen Mason, 17, in separate incidents when they were disguised as packages left on doorsteps.
Four other people were wounded in the series of incidents. One of two explosive packages detonated at a FedEx sorting facility outside of San Antonio the day before Conditt died. Authorities ultimately tracked Conditt down by using surveillance images of him dropping off packages at FedEx.
Fox News' Katherine Lam and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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