Austin bomber called himself a 'psychopath' in taped confessional

Law enforcement officials search for evidence at the location where the suspected package bomber was killed in suburban Austin on March 21, 2018 in Round Rock, Texas.

(Image credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

published 25 March 2018

Mark Anthony Conditt, the deceased suspect in the serial bombings in Austin that killed two people and injured several more, left a recording on his cell phone reflecting on the attacks.

"He did refer to himself as a psychopath. He did not show any remorse, in fact questioning himself for why he didn't feel any remorse for what he did," said Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), who heard the tape, at a news conference Saturday.

Authorities are still investigating Conditt's motives; three of the victims were minorities, suggesting a possible component of racism. "The best evidence we have at this point in time is the confession itself," McCaul said.

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.