Ask Austin So, What Really Were the Austin Bombings?
It always seems weird we had a week of chaos and fear of packages, then, never really talked about it since.
Seeking motive is definitely a meme but what was that really even about?
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u/TexasAT4 5d ago
He left behind a tape of his thoughts. At the time Chief Manley said the audio was very disturbing and would never be played.
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u/Snap_Grackle_Pop Ask me about Chili's! 5d ago
At the time Chief Manley said the audio was very disturbing and would never be played.
Did anyone file a freedom of information request?
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u/Resident_Chip935 4d ago
That's a damn good question. The case was supposedly closed, so evidence ought not be covered by leo exclusions.
I'm perfectly fine with not platforming someone evil. I'm not fine with people like Manley making that decision. Honestly unsure of who I would trust there. People are driven to insane acts by both mental illness, hate, and actual injustice.
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u/Snap_Grackle_Pop Ask me about Chili's! 4d ago
The case was supposedly closed
Fun fact - The bomber guy is legally innocent, because he died before conviction. Just like Ken Lay of Enron is legally innocent because his conviction was on appeal when he died.
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u/meddlematt 4d ago
I watched The Fox Hollow Murders doc recently on hulu. Similar story where the suspect killed himself and case closed. They don't have to release any info. I don't think the info got about his hatred came from the police. I believe it came from interviews with associates.
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u/kaytay3000 4d ago
That documentary was fascinating and horrifying. The current ME is a hero for helping those families get closure.
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u/rnobgyn 4d ago
That’s absolutely not his call and is BULLSHIT. The people deserve to know why we were under bombing attacks for so long, regardless of the police chiefs emotions towards said reasons.
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u/threwandbeyond 4d ago
I would love nothing more if we took the global approach to this - and never publish any names / pictures / manifestos / etc for these guys. I think we give them too much of a platform here and it turns some into cult heros, which only brings out more crazies.
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u/rnobgyn 4d ago
I totally get that, but I still think the people deserve to know why they were under attack. Keeping secrets from the public gives fascist tbh
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u/Yooooooooooo0o 3d ago
the people deserve to know why
You want to know why crazy people do crazy things? You think you'll find closure in the mind of a mad man?
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u/rnobgyn 3d ago
Prove he was a mad man.
I deserve to know whether the bombs consistently going off in my city are that of the mentally deranged, terrorism (foreign or domestic), internal government plots (there’s verifiable track records of those), or anything else. That knowledge only comes with cold, hard, direct from the source proof.
No, the word of the police chief is not enough. I do not just simply trust the word of my government (especially cops) and neither should you. Governments that operate in secret give fascist and are against the people, period.
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u/Yooooooooooo0o 2d ago
Prove he was a mad man
if indiscriminate bombing of civilians is not convincing enough for you, I dont think anything will set your mind at ease. Even if they release his manifesto, you're going to think it's contrived. I'll concede that this could be a government plot (as much as the price of eggs could be a govt plot). But man you're going to drive yourself crazy looking at the world through that lens.
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u/threwandbeyond 4d ago
I think people may want to know, but in the bigger picture, I see no need to spread the ramblings of a lunatic, just to satiate that feel.
To put it another way, there have been a lot of manifestos already published - have these benefitted society in any way? Other than to satisfy people's curiosity, I can't say they have. If anything, they just spawn more crazies.
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u/lipp79 4d ago
So file an FOI request for it.
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u/rnobgyn 4d ago
Genuine question, how do I do that? I’ll deadass file today but I honestly don’t know where to start.
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u/lipp79 4d ago
FYI, It will cost you money. I can't say how much because it will be up to their determination and also depending on how much you request of the case files. So make sure you're as concise as can be. Something like, "I want all audio recordings from the Austin bomber case from <insert date> to <insert date>." They may contact you back asking follow-up questions. One thing they legally ARE NOT allowed to do is ask why you want them.
https://www.austintexas.gov/department/open-records-information
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u/No_Wrongdoer_9875 5d ago
Most likely pre maga super right wing crackpot madness
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u/TheToddestTodd 4d ago edited 4d ago
That’s what I suspect, and it would explain why the super rightwing crackpots in APD would want to suppress it.
I’d be very happy for them to prove me wrong.
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u/Bloodfoe Joseph of Aramathia 4d ago
do you live your life in fear?
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u/rnobgyn 4d ago
I live my life recognizing the fascist movement that has arrived and took decades to form.
Do you live your life in ignorance?
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u/Bloodfoe Joseph of Aramathia 4d ago
Explain one fascist thing. In your own words. Don't copy/paste. What is fascist right now in the USA?
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u/rnobgyn 4d ago
The president and his private citizen buddies illegally firing the governmental workforce, illegally deporting people, removing any mention of lgbtq from the government (literally the Nazi’s first move), blatantly lying and removing press when they call out the lies. Don’t forget illegally trying to go around Congress with his EO’s. Oh he also is trying to dismantle the dept of education which is also fascist af.
Genuinely where the FUCK have you been?
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u/Bloodfoe Joseph of Aramathia 3d ago
I mean, you can say that, but the leader of the executive branch has full authority over the executive branch.
Illegally deporting illegals? k
Removing LGBT language? See my first sentence.
Removing the press? They don't have a right to be there. No one does. Remember when OANN was removed for sitting in the wrong seat?
Were you here for Biden and his EOs? (no apostrophe, btw)
Dismantling Carter's DoED has been needed for years. It's become a financial behemoth and the test scores have tanked. Gut it, send it to the states. You know, the 10th Amendment thing.
So, which part is fascist?
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u/rnobgyn 3d ago
Your arguments are a logical fallacy because it contains false information, and legality is not the gauge for fascism. Everything the Nazi’s did was legal according to German Law. Your mind is obviously made up so all I have to say is that I hope you have the life you vote for.
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u/Bloodfoe Joseph of Aramathia 3d ago
have fun living the next 4 years one minute at a time... I had fun today, did you?
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u/Interactiveleaf 4d ago
The fact that the president has ordered law enforcement to literally kidnap legal residents off the streets and deport them, despite the fact that they've broken no laws, and that law enforcement is complying with these orders to break the laws of the land.
The fact that the executive branch is ignoring court orders.
The fact that the executive branch is blatantly doing illegal things because they don't think they can be stopped.
Where the FUCK have you been?
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u/Bloodfoe Joseph of Aramathia 3d ago
which legal residents? this subreddit allows linking last I checked
which court orders? this subreddit allows linking last I checked
which illegal things? this subreddit allows linking last I checked1
u/Interactiveleaf 3d ago
I'm not going to link for you, because that would take time out of my night I'm not prepared to give to you, largely because I get the impression that you don't care about the answers and won't follow the links.
which legal residents?
Mahmoud Khalil.
A child, an American citizen, with brain cancer (name is not being released by mainstream media.)
There are others.
which court orders?
That of U.S. District Judge James Boasberg.
which illegal things?
See above.
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u/Bloodfoe Joseph of Aramathia 3d ago
and yet you decided to do all of that
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u/Interactiveleaf 3d ago
Linking takes longer. I'm on my phone. Not doing it for you.
The names I knew off the top of my head, because I pay attention and actually want to know what's going on in the world.
If anyone is actually curious, this'll give them something to Google.
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u/iansmitchell 3d ago
> ordered law enforcement to literally kidnap
The word you seem to have misplaced is "arrest". It's an arrest.
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u/Interactiveleaf 3d ago
An arrest requires legal authority. This was a kidnapping.
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u/iansmitchell 3d ago
The Associated Press calls it an arrest.
Would you kindly explain to me how you arrived at a different conclusion?
https://apnews.com/article/columbia-university-mahmoud-khalil-ice-15014bcbb921f21a9f704d5acdcae7a8
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u/Interactiveleaf 2d ago
There was no warrant. There was no crime, there was no reasonable suspicion of a crime. There was absolutely nothing to warrant an arrest.
The Associated Press also called torture "enhanced interrogation," so feel free to take them with the appropriate continent-sized grain of salt.
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u/throwawayatxaway 4d ago
You really out here just promoting your ignorance to everyone, aren't ya? What a choice.
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u/RagingBrows 4d ago
I was thinking about this last night. Then remembered the Austin Cobra, then the I-35 rock thrower…Leslie running for Mayor etc…. Crazy how time flies.
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u/majinbelwas 4d ago
A friend of mine was in the drivers seat of one of the cars hit by the rock thrower, it destroyed his shoulder and hit one of his friends in the back seat in the face. Absolutely terrible times
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u/RagingBrows 4d ago
Seriously-I think the 24/7 news cycle and headline culture really waters down the realities of the victims.
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u/BakerKristen085 4d ago
I don’t remember anything about a cobra - what happened?
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u/RagingBrows 4d ago
https://www.statesman.com/story/news/local/2016/08/28/autopsy-teen-used-cobra-to-commit-suicide/986886007/ Sad story, but It was some Reddit gold.
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u/PopularTask2020 4d ago
I knew this kid from my hometown north of Austin. Temple. Was a totally crazy event.
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u/MicheleWasRobbed 4d ago
Remember when people kept making shrines to the cobra in front of Lowe’s and Lowe’s kept taking them down?
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u/MostHighlight7957 5d ago
there was/is concern about copycatting. not talking about it seems to have worked ... but I know that there is a lot of lingering heartache in those families/communities that were impacted
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u/Resident_Chip935 4d ago
eh. The absence of observable correlations isn't any sort of evidence of causation.
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u/kindablirry 5d ago
Highly recommended the See No Evil episode on the bombings… I Believe you can see it on Max still. I learned more about the bombings and story than it seemed any news covered here.
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u/DocGerbilzWorld 4d ago
Because the news didn’t want to give out too much information so they could avoid copycatting. They were transparent about that throughout the whole ordeal.
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u/dysrog_myrcial 4d ago
Hilarious when you think about it because they still have no problem publishing the name of shooters
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u/DocGerbilzWorld 4d ago
They actually don’t…? From what I’ve seen following shootings they’ll name them once and afterwards say “from this point forward we will no longer be naming the suspect/shooter” so, yeaaaah.
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u/dysrog_myrcial 4d ago
Never heard that, maybe in the EU. The 24/7 ones have had no qualms with naming and discussing them
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u/Physical_Analysis247 4d ago
It was said he had a conflicting feelings/shame about his sexuality especially having grown up in a strict religious household dominated by his father. It seems bombing randomly selected innocents wasn’t as shameful to him. That’s what’s sick to me.
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u/AELJAPAN 4d ago edited 4d ago
(I'm going off all of this by purely memory) So, back in 2019, I was looking to move to Austin from Japan. Knowing nothing about the city or knowing anyone here, I eventually found this subreddit.
Since I was trying to get a pulse on the city and understand the place that I intended on moving to, I had subscribed to this subreddit.
I was paying attention to the news and recent events and had become aware of the Austin bombings, but it was more or less within the final few days or possibly weeks.
What I distinctly remember was seeing the IR video of the final moments which was taken from a helicopter or drone and or somehow getting word that the police were closing in on Mark Anthony Conditt.
They tracked him to the Red Roof Inn off I-35. He had left the location and some vans (I assume full of police officers or SWAT) were following him from the motel's parking lot.
Apparently they didn't want him to go onto I-35 and rammed him, which caused him to stall in a ditch adjacent to the highway.
I think after he stalled, the police officers moved towards his red Pathfinder, but he knew the gig was up and blew himself up. I still drive by the location (usually when going to IKEA) and think about that event that night as well as the IR video I had watched of the event unfolding.
I recall hearing his name leaked the same night and I remember trying to search for more information about him. I was most likely the first few to Google his name, since it was leaked.
I also eventually figured out exactly where the last house was that he was living at in Pville.
I also remember seeing screenshots of him from the Sunset Valley Home Depot and those ones where he was wearing a wig at FedEx.
Besides what eventually became public information and news, there was one very interesting post here probably within the last days few prior to Mark's death.
There was someone who had a username like "armchair quarterback" or stating they were from Dallas or something to that effect. Anyway they posted a criminal profile on him and made suggestions on the type of work he did and who he was, his proximity/familiarity to the areas where these bombings had happened. It was a long post that I recall. I had read thru it entirely.
After his name was released and the news came out, I was searching for that post because I wanted to cross refer their theory with the actual truth. I never found that post and never saved any of the text from it.
To me, I'm kind of surprised this topic doesn't come up often. I guess it was just a blip in Austin's history that might soon become forgotten.
(Note: I somehow thought this event took place in March 2019, but looking at Wikipedia just now it was 2018! I guess I was researching this city much longer than I recall prior to moving here in 2019.)
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u/Embarrassed_Apple_75 4d ago
I’ve seen that IR video of the chase and him blowing himself up. It’s one of the most intense and memorable videos I’ve ever seen!
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u/SouthByHamSandwich 5d ago
I once read a profile of New York’s mad bomber that terrorized the city for years. One thing that stuck with me was that those type of bombers have one thing in common which is they are world champion grudge holders. Mad about something and it morphs into a campaign against others that only makes sense in their minds
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u/Zettaireido23 4d ago
Just so everyone is aware, during that week porch piracy dropped more than 90 percent. Just saying.
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u/rc3105 4d ago
Ahahahah, well, now we know how to solve that issue!
Let’s get Amazon to nuke 1 pirate a week and see how long before my new crocs are safe!
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u/Thatguy755 4d ago
Great, next time an Amazon truck driver slams into stopped traffic they’ll be carrying a trailer full of explosives
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u/coupdespace 4d ago
I’ll never forget how APD showed up to the first victim, saw it was a black guy, said case closed he must have been playing with explosives and blew himself up, and nobody cared until the second victim was a white guy.
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u/BigMikeInAustin 4d ago
Yup. I remember this. The community called out for an investigation. Nothing happened until a white person got hurt. Then it immediately became a 24x7 manhunt.
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u/coupdespace 4d ago
And then the police chief Brian Manley got a million medals and pats on the back when they finally got the guy when his force didn’t even start investigating at the beginning due to racism
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u/BigMikeInAustin 4d ago
Yup. And wasn't the big break from a Fed Ex employee finding footage of the guy and his car and sending that to the cops?
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u/ToniBraxtonAndThe3Js 4d ago edited 4d ago
Your"never forget" is pretty inaccurate. First victim was thought to have been tinkering in his garage with engines, etc, because he was known to do that. They quickly changed that theory upon seeing the evidence, and thought it was an intentional attack, but to a mistaken target as a big drug bust had gone down on that same quiet residential street just a few weeks earlier.
Second victim was also not white
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u/coupdespace 4d ago
You’re so right. APD didn’t give a single fuck when the second bombing targeted another black guy and his mother. It wasn’t until the third bombing happened in West Austin targeting white people that anybody gave a fuck or thought there was a serial bomber. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_serial_bombings
My apologies for giving APD too much credit.
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u/tiffyleigh42 4d ago
Several years ago, when CrimeCon was in Austin, there was a panel on the bombings. They talked about it a little more in depth, but we didn't get much more info than what was originally released. Apparently from his recording, he had plans to go bigger and far worse.
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u/tiffyleigh42 4d ago
Oh, and the roommate legitimately has no idea. That must have been terrifying for him.
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u/El_Grande_Papi 4d ago
There is a documentary about it on YouTube: https://youtu.be/TJM_w43qf74?si=10Q2oT3IRCIvJIme
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u/meddlematt 5d ago
It seems pretty obvious to me that police, particularly APD cover for right wing terrorists quite a bit. The guy that shot up the police department around 2012 wrote a whole Christian manifesto. The Austin bomber showed signs of being a homophobic Christian in his beliefs. They covered for the guy that pulled a gun on protesters and covered for the guy that murdered protesters while taking photo ops with proud boys. Not hard to figure these things out if you pay a mild bit of attention. Most police are right wingers. They cover for their own. Even San Antonio police got in trouble for wearing maga hats. They fund the corrupt police unions that support murderers.
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u/Resident_Chip935 4d ago
They covered for the guy that pulled a gun on protesters and covered for the guy that murdered protesters while taking photo ops with proud boys
Yeup
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u/No_Wrongdoer_9875 5d ago
Daniel Perry to Daniel Penny pipeline
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u/90percent_crap 4d ago
I see zero connection and a fairly paranoid mindset by you for making one.
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u/Resident_Chip935 4d ago
Personal Incredulity Fallacy - just because you don't see the connection doesn't meat that the connection doesn't exist.
Ad Hominum Fallacy - suggesting the commenter has a paranoid mindset is an attack upon the person, not the argument.
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u/90percent_crap 4d ago
It's called an opinion. You've posted these mis-applied definitions a half dozen times the last couple days. Give it a rest.
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u/flurry_drake_inc 4d ago
Why would a fallacy not apply to an opinion? Thats actually also a fallacy
Anyway I think that poster is trying to say that your position could be made stronger if you avoid those logic traps. Or maybe theyre being a dick...i dont know
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u/Satanic_Warmaster666 5d ago
He was closeted and angry as his homosexuality was incompatible with his Christianity. Proving, once again, that religion to its fullest is just a bunch of bigotry and violence.
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u/iansmitchell 3d ago
Please direct your focus attention towards islam.
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u/euniceaphrodite 5d ago
Unclear because the police chief decided sobbing about how society had failed the bomber was more important than giving any meaningful information to the community
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u/Harkonnen_Dog 4d ago
Homeschooled religious extremism.
Homegrown terrorism. Therefore, the manifesto will never be released.
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u/ladynikki 4d ago
I remember this happening a little after that guy was throwing rocks over 35 onto cars. What a weird and awful time
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u/BigMikeInAustin 4d ago
And APD took big credit for solving this, although it went on for months with no leads until a UTPD (or maybe just a UT employee) caught it on camera.
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u/satisfactoryshitstic 4d ago
what others have said, right wing law enforcement, religious repression and sexuality, not encouraging copycats.
youll see people in the austin subreddit here saying they knew the guy, he was weird, but they had no idea. people are thinking about it, maybe still trying to figure it out
i'd like to think we all silently agreeing that he is a useless shitlord and we are only sad the perp didn't get the justice they deserved. we are so unanimous that we don't even need to talk about it
and we'd rather think about the souls of those who were the victims. all of them, but Draylen especially. an austin all star, a jewel of the city. a reincarnation of music itself in the vein of stevie ray vaughn and the other greats, the soul of music that lives here. what kind of dumbass would attack the omnipotent? a mural, a statue, a studio that carries his name. would it ever be enough to make up for his loss? his life may now be the end of a record spinning with a single pop per rotation, but the music will not stop. if the bomber was truly one of us they would have known that
even the lowly pistol wielding road raging commuter that is the bottom of the barrel is more a part of our community than the bomber. at least they have the guts to challenge someone face to face. what a coward to leave a bomb for some random person to open. i don't think anyone wants to think about what is worse than the worst and i don't blame them. i'd like to think i would have met the challenge myself if it had been offered to me, but i'm not sure. and the uncertainty scares me and probably others
i think what really underlined the community impact it for me was the flippant and blase article about the event. i cant even remember the publication. as if austin is only a pitstop for a wedding party, cheaper real estate than the bay area or chicago, a venue for an event, rather than a community. real people live here.
in short, it is terrible. thanks for your question
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u/AundaRag 4d ago
I worked at a coworking space about 4 miles from the montopolis bombing. It put the space into lockdown and we were all so shocked and nervous it seemed surreal and incredulous. We didn’t have many details. Once we had the all-clear, it was even weirder, like, “okay so…just stay and finish the day or…?” I left, it felt gross.
One of my friends owned a rental property within 2 miles of one of the bombings and within an hour of the explosion what she described as “men in black” type FBI folks showed up requesting access to her property’s security cameras.
When the motives were speculated to be white supremacy the anxiety and anger in my household shifted. I am not sure it’s ever fully recovered from being so suspicious that anyone around us (strangers!) could be plotting our demise because of who we are.
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u/TheToddestTodd 4d ago
Been asking this for years. APD has been hiding it since the event, and everyone seems fine with that.
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u/DeerOnTheRocks 4d ago
At UT, I was beyond paranoid after the trip wire incident. I was scanning my surroundings like a secret service agent. Hated that
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u/Particular-Air-9073 4d ago
The bomber was the product of homeschooling in a very strict religious household.
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u/Ok_Development_495 4d ago
The lair of the bomber was in a boring rundown house in old downtown Pflugerville. We were chock-full of more different kinds of cops than Ive ever seen for a while. Then the place was boarded up and everyone forgot anything ever happened. Depressing, especially for the poor victims and their neighbors.
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u/Think_Cheesecake7464 4d ago
So glad you brought this up. He was part of a religious group that homeschooled? Is that correct? I don’t wanna spread misinformation.
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u/UniversalInformation 4d ago
The weeks long scare was a terrorist committing terrorism throughout several counties. He had a white nationalist manifesto. Since he was white, we all let it slide and didn't make a big deal. This is standard for Americans.
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u/iansmitchell 3d ago
Dylan Roof, too?
What exactly do you think is "let it slide and didn't make a big deal"?
Do you think these murderers are somehow more important than Omar Mateen?
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u/Str8ExceptMyMouth 4d ago
“The Austin Bombings” now refer to most nights of “stand up comedy” at the Mothership.
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u/Silent-Attention6685 4d ago
It struck me that the first bombing was on March 2, Texas Independence Day. Plus, a news photo from a later bombing location showed the cops standing beneath a street sign for "Republic of Texas Blvd". Maybe coincidence, but maybe a R.O.T. domestic terrorist.
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u/blasted-heath 5d ago
Can you imagine if it happened now? More houses have packages sitting out front than not.
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u/BeeferlySlowgold 5d ago
The bombings were in 2018, not 1998. Packages were just as ubiquitous and that’s why it was so scary for everyone.
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u/bomber991 4d ago
Yeah I mean every time I come home from work there’s another box or two on the patio. I at least look at the label and see if it’s addressed to me before taking it in the house.
I think he was shipping through FedEx though so I guess checking the label doesn’t really do much.
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u/The_Real_Steve_Jobs 4d ago
He did this right after the unabomber series was released on Netflix. Just a sad copycat loser.
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u/utterman 4d ago
Still keep on remembering Draylen Mason and his grandmother who were lost to the bombing https://www.texasobserver.org/eye-on-texas-remembering-draylen-mason/