What Happened?

Family and Friends Shocked That ‘Smart’ ‘Computer Geek’ Is Austin Bombing Suspect

“Everyone is caught off guard by this.”

The family and friends of the 23-year-old man suspected of carrying out the Austin bombings have spoken of their shock, saying Mark Anthony Conditt was a smart and kind “computer geek.” Conditt is suspected of carrying out the bombings that killed two people and wounded four others—he blew himself up Wednesday after being hunted down by the FBI and local SWAT teams. Conditt’s uncle told the Associated Press: “I mean, this is coming from nowhere. We just don’t know what. I don’t know how many ways to say it but everyone is caught off guard by this.” The suspect’s neighbor described him as “smart” and “polite,” while his grandmother Mary Conditt said: “We don’t have any answers. We are just shocked. This is not the Mark I knew.” Other local residents said the Conditt family was very religious and hosted large religious gatherings every Sunday. “I know that they were church-going people,” said one neighbor, with another woman who home-schooled with the suspect saying of him: “He seemed like a normal boy.”