The neighbors of the suspect who attempted to bomb Jacksonville International Airport on Wednesday said they were shocked to see him taken by authorities and claim he was a typical family man, Naples News reported.
Zeljko Causevic, 39, remains in jail on $1 million bail after falsely telling a security officer he had a bomb in his backpack as he entered the airport on Tuesday night. His frightening lie caused a five-hour long evacuation, cancellation of flights into Wednesday, and plenty of stranded passengers.
Authorities eventually discovered that Causevic's bag only had an electronic scale, two batteries, and a microchip inside.
News of the airport scare spread quickly, alerting people in Causevic's neighborhood.
"It just seems like they're normal. They're just very normal," said neighbor Eldina Kadiric. "They have two kids who I see playing outside all the time."
"I feel for the family and what they are going through," she added. "Even if it was a joke, that's a pretty bad joke to play."
According to officials, Causevic attempted to pass through the security checkpoint but was stopped by a Transportation Security Agency agent.
After being blocked, he allegedly told the agent he had something in his backpack that was "supposed to be a bomb, but it's not" and said he was carrying a "detonator."
Catherine Swan-Clark, a witness near the interaction between Causevic and the security agent, overheard their conversation.
"So you're telling me you have a bomb?" Swan-Clark said the TSA agent asked him. "And he responded yes, 'I have a bomb.'"
"He was calm the whole time," she said of the bomb suspect.
It is unknown if he was going to board a flight and there is possible motive as of yet. Causevic was interviewed by the Joint Terrorism Task Force as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), airport police, and Jacksonville sheriff's office investigated.
Around 6 p.m. on Tuesday, one package was discovered in a terminal and a second one was located in the parking garage. The airport was immediately evacuated and reopened around 11:00 p.m. after officials investigated the scene.
A spokesman for the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said one of the packages "certainly had some destructive nature" and a harmful "device" was recovered. He declined to comment further.
