Relatives of Austin bombing suspect say they had 'no idea of the darkness' inside him

The family of Mark Anthony Conditt, the Austin bombing suspect who died early Wednesday after he blew himself up in his car, said they are "devastated and broken" by what happened, and "had no idea of the darkness that Mark must have been in."

In a statement to CNN, members of the Conditt family in Colorado — not his parents in Texas — said they were "grieving" and "in shock," and "right now, our prayers are for those families that have lost loved ones, for those impacted in any way, and for the soul of our Mark." Law enforcement officials said that late Tuesday, they identified Conditt, 24, as a suspect in a string of bombings across Austin, which left two dead and four injured, and were moving in on a hotel in Round Rock to arrest him. Conditt drove away, tailed by police, and after he drove into a ditch, detonated an explosive that killed him. Police have not revealed a possible motive.

Two of Conditt's roommates were detained and questioned, and police said it's possible he planted or mailed other packages before he died. The Los Angeles Times reports that in a blog he started in 2012 as part of a class assignment at Austin Community College, Conditt described himself as a conservative "but not politically inclined," and wrote posts in favor of the death penalty and against abortion and making gay marriage legal. Conditt was home schooled and fired last year from his job at a manufacturing company, and one of his former friends told the Times that "a lot of people jump to conclusions and want to make him out to be a conservative terrorist. But I think it has more to do with loneliness and anger than it has to do with anything else." Catherine Garcia

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Editor's note: This article originally misstated who released the statement about Mark Conditt. It has since been corrected. We regret the error.