Bombing suspect’s neighbors shocked by news of connection, death.
The Austin PFLUGERVILLE — bombing investigation has hit home for Pflugerville Mayor Victor Gonzales in a way he didn’t expect: Gonzales lives only two streets away from suspect Mark Conditt’s home.
“It’s very shocking because you never think about these things,” Gonzales said. “We never think about a lot of things in life, and all of a sudden it’s happening in your backyard.”
It was a sentiment shared by many in the suburb just northeast of Austin.
Pflugerville has a rich history of being a farming town with founding families who have worked on the land since the 1800s. Today, Pflugerville has more than 60,000 residents, but Gonzales said the neighborhood where he lives — just blocks from the 23-year-old Conditt’s home — is a closeknit community with many longtime residents.
Gonzales, who said he never met Conditt or his family, said he, like officials throughout the Austin area, have been encouraging residents to be cautious of other suspicious packages and to look for and report unusual activity in the area.
“We have been pushing out ‘see something, say something,’ and we’re still doing that,” he said, but he never suspected any suspicious activity in his neighborhood.
Frank Alvarado, 44, said he’s lived in Pflugerville for three years. His house is a couple of blocks away from Conditt’s house, which authorities closed off soon after Conditt died during their attempts to arrest him.
Alvarado said children live in nearby apartments and he said he has a 4-year-old and 9-year-old of his own. He said he would never have suspected that someone linked to the Austin bombings would be so close.
“My kids play here,” he said. “Not knowing, that’s the scariest part.”
Even before he learned of the bomber’s proximity to his home, Alvarado was already closer than most to the package bombings.
Alvarado said he works for FedEx as a package handler and had been on edge since a bomb detonated on a conveyor belt at a FedEx facility in Schertz, about 60 miles south of Austin, and an unexploded device was found at another facility in Southeast Austin Tuesday.
Authorities believe both packages were sent from a retail store on Brodie Lane in Sunset Valley, a suburb in Southwest Austin, on Sunday.
“I went to work last night, and the warehouse was basically empty. It didn’t have as many employees as usual,” Alvarado said Wednesday.
Abel and Maria Najera were walking down the street as the sun came up Wednesday when they came across state troopers and a swarm of media just four blocks from their home of 23 years.
Maria Najera said they moved to the area from California in 1995 because they didn’t want their children to grow up in Los Angeles.
In Pflugerville, they found a quiet, peaceful home.
“It’s just hard for us to believe that the area here would be connected to this man,” Abel Najera said. “It’s very family-oriented, with friendly people.