Police in Plugerville, north of Austin today ordered the evacuation of a wide area of the city today, as the home of Austin bomber Steve Conditt is being searched for possible bombs, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Police stress the relatives are not suspects. They hope to get an idea why Conditt built six deadly bombs in the last three weeks, killing two people and wounding five.Neighbors say they don't believe Conditt's family was in any way involved.
"My assumption would be that they knew nothing," one man said. "They are as nice a family as you would want to have, as nice a neighbors as you'd like to have."
Austin Mayor Steve Adler says Conditt's home had been under surveillance all night long, after officials discerned his name from his dealings with FedEx and other investigative sources.
Conditt blew himself up in his car on I-35 in Round Rock about 2:30 this morning. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Law enforcement sources say the discovery of the package bomb in the FedEx Center in Schertz early yesterday was the break that allowed them to crack the case.
FedEx was able to almost immediately track that package, as well as one that was shipped through Schertz but did not explode, and was later discovered intact in a FedEx center in South Austin. They determined that the package was mailed at a specific time at a private mailing center in Sunset Valley, a suburb in southwest Travis County.
From there, it was a simple matter to acquire surveillance camera footage of Conditt, apparently wearing a wig, walking into the center with the two packages.
Police say about four hours before he was encircled, Conditt turned on his cell phone, which enabled police to track his movements.
They found him at a Red Roof Inn in Round Rock, and were bringing in heavy equipment to apprehend him, when he started driving away.
He drove about four miles down I-35 with police in pursuit, when he turned into the bar ditch and stopped.He blew himself up as police approached, and was pronounced dead at the scene.
PHOTO: SPECTRUM NEWS AUSTIN