AUSTIN (KXAN) — Newly-released helicopter and airplane video shows the moment the Austin bomber exploded a device as police closed in on him in Round Rock.
Mark Anthony Conditt, 23, was identified as the man responsible for a series of package bombings in March.
The bombs killed 39-year-old Anthony Stephan House and 17-year-old Draylen Mason in separate bombings. Four others were hurt: 75-year-old Esperanza Herrera at a home in east Austin, two men in their 20s injured by a tripwire bomb in southwest Austin and a FedEx employee who suffered a concussion from the explosion at the Schertz distribution facility.
Conditt was linked to a total of seven homemade, explosive packages, including one he had with him as police tracked him down on March 20.
The video, posted on the Texas Department of Public Safety’s YouTube channel, shows the bomber’s vehicle leave the Red Roof Inn parking lot and move south on the I-35 frontage near Old Settlers Boulevard around 2 a.m., followed by two vans.
The video then shows one of the vans slow in front of Conditt’s vehicle before being rammed from behind by another van. A member of the tactical team then runs toward Conditt’s passenger window and tries to break it open, followed seconds later by a large explosion that killed the bomber.
Authorities said Conditt detonated a bomb inside his vehicle after a SWAT officer fired at him.
Conditt’s death was ruled a suicide. One SWAT officer suffered minor injuries from the explosion, officials said at the time.
