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Texas bomber’s recorded confession: ‘I wish I were sorry but I am not’

Mark Conditt, who died when he blew himself up as police closed in, calls himself a psychopath in the recording

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This undated picture shows Mark Anthony Conditt, who carried out a series of deadly parcel bombings in the Texas state capital of Austin. Photo: Agence France-Presse

The man who killed two people and wounded five others with a series of bomb attacks in the Austin area left an audio recording for police that includes a haunting revelation about himself.

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“I wish I were sorry but I am not,” Mark Conditt said in the cellphone recording, according to sources familiar with his statements. He described himself as a “psychopath” and said he feels as though he has been disturbed since childhood.

Conditt also promised that he would go inside a crowded McDonald’s to blow himself up if he thought authorities were closing in on him, according to law enforcement sources briefed on the contents of the audio. The sources declined to be identified because they are not authorised to speak about the recording, which police are using as evidence in the case.
Officials remove the car in which Austin bomber Mark Conditt blew himself up as authorities closed in on Wednesday. Photo: AP
Officials remove the car in which Austin bomber Mark Conditt blew himself up as authorities closed in on Wednesday. Photo: AP

Interim Police Chief Brian Manley confirmed the existence of the audio in a news conference Wednesday, but provided limited details about its specifics. He called it a “confession.”

Police say Conditt, 23, detonated a bomb inside his car early Wednesday as officers closed in on him along a highway. He had a laptop computer with him that was destroyed in the blast, but officials say they think it may have contained other recordings.

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According to the sources, he began his 28-minute statement, which was recorded after 9pm on Tuesday, saying “it’s me again” and blamed himself for helping investigators find him by going into a FedEx store on in Sunset Valley to mail two explosive devices, one of which blew up at a transfer facility in Schertz.

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