Austin Bombing Victims Included a Father and a 17-Year-Old Musician

Two people were killed and five others wounded in a series of bombings centered on Austin, Texas, this month. Police have said the attacks are linked, and Wednesday a man suspected of being the bomber, Mark Conditt, 23, blew himself up as officers approached him.

Brian Manley, Austin’s police chief, said that investigators had not yet determined a motive for the attacks, in which homemade bombs were used to kill and maim people.

The first three bombs were placed in cardboard boxes left on people’s doorsteps and exploded when the victims handled or tried to open them. Those bombs killed two people, Anthony Stephan House and Draylen Mason, and wounded two others, Esperanza Herrera and Mason’s mother, who has not been publicly identified.

The fourth bomb, which exploded March 18, was more haphazard: It was placed near the street and connected to a tripwire that was triggered by two men in their 20s, who have not been publicly named. Both were seriously injured.

Two more bombs were found Tuesday at FedEx facilities. One, which did not explode, was found near Austin’s airport; the second exploded near San Antonio, injuring a FedEx employee. Police said the second bomb was being mailed to Austin.

Manley said Wednesday that it was not clear whether more than one bomber may have been responsible for the attacks, which spread fear across the capital of Texas for nearly three weeks.

Here are the stories of the people killed by the Austin bombings.

— Anthony Stephan House

House, a 39-year-old finance professional, was helping his 8-year-old daughter get ready for school March 2 when he picked up a package left on his front porch.

The box exploded, killing him. Police initially treated his death as an isolated attack, and some of his family members have been publicly critical of the law enforcement response.

House had sent his daughter back inside the house to brush her teeth before he picked up the package, his brother, Norrell Waynewood, said in an interview with The Daily Beast.

“He was an athlete, started his own hedge-fund account from scratch,” Waynewood said. “He was an academic, the type of guy who just wants to push.”

House graduated in 2008 from Texas State University, where he studied business administration, finance and financial management services, according to The Austin American-Statesman. He started a money management firm, House Capital Management, and later worked for Texas Quarries and Acme Brick.

“His whole life was for his daughter, for making her life better. For her to be a leader, for her to be educated,” Waynewood said. “That was it.”

House’s mother, Melonie House, created a GoFundMe page to raise money for his daughter.

“This unforeseen tragedy has left his dreams for his wife, who is a local schoolteacher, and his 8-year-old baby girl shattered, replaced only with heartbreaking uncertainty,” Melonie House wrote.

— Draylen Mason

Mason, 17, was a promising classical musician who planned to enroll in the University of Texas’ competitive Butler School of Music in the fall.

He woke up early March 12 to go to the gym with his mother and was killed by a package bomb that exploded in their kitchen.

His mother opened the package with a knife, but Mason “kind of shielded her and it killed him instantly,” said his cousin, Mark Glover.

Mason’s grandmother heard the blast from her bedroom and rushed to the kitchen, where she found them sprawled on the floor, Glover said. He said Mason’s mother was in the hospital “going through the pain of surgery and the pain of losing a son that way.”

Doug Dempster, dean of the University of Texas at Austin’s College of Fine Arts, who serves on the board of the music program, said that Mason was “a remarkably and precociously talented bass player.”

A double bassist, Mason planned to study music performance. He had been a member of the Austin Soundwaves, a youth orchestra program, since the age of 11. He also played in the orchestra at his high school, East Austin College Prep, and during Sunday church services.

“He was every inch a musician,” Dempster said. “His gentle confidence seemed to come from a conviction that hard work and talent was going to work for him. It did.”

Glover agreed.

“Draylen was smarter on accident than most of us are on purpose,” he said.