Tracy Ganino couldn’t get away from the media storm that followed Faisal Shahzad’s trail Tuesday.
Ganino, a Long Hill Avenue resident, lives on the same street where Shahzad once owned a two-story house.
And Ganino works down the street from Shahzad’s more recent apartment on Sheridan Road in Bridgeport.
Since Shahzad was taken into custody late Monday for his alleged role in the attempted Times Square car bombing, Shelton resident Ganino has been navigating through news vans and groups of reporters everywhere she goes.
“Getting to work was crazy!” Ganino said Tuesday afternoon, back at home after a day of work at Bullard Havens Technical High School in Bridgeport. “I understand (the media interest.) It’s a big deal.”
Shahzad’s arrest has set off a media frenzy in Connecticut, where the suspect had lived for several years. Shahzad became a U.S. citizen in 2009.
Throughout the day Tuesday, reporters from national and local news outlets poured into Shelton and Bridgeport, looking for photo opportunities and interviews that might give more insight into the man who is accused of an act of terrorism against the United States.
At one point, reporters started interviewing each other.
In Shelton, the media circus disrupted a typically quiet street.
“I used to call this the Boogieman land,” joked neighbor Mary Ann Galich. “It’s all quiet, no one around.”
Not so on Tuesday.
Shelton police Tuesday morning had to ask several people, including reporters, to move their cars, which were double parked on the narrow street.
People stood around on the sidewalks, on a street perched on a hill overlooking the house and in a parking lot for the condominiums set back behind Shahzad’s former home.
Reporters, including representatives of the New York Times, the Connecticut Post and ABC News, dug through piles of papers in the backyard of the home, sifting through soaked documents that appeared to be part of trash piles left behind.
Reporters talked to anyone who appeared in the general area — a woman walking her dog, children bouncing basketballs, police officers stationed outside the home.
A man stopped by his house to pick up mail and a reporter followed him to the mail box and back to his car. The reporter even walked alongside him as he drove down the street, asking him questions about Shahzad and his habits.
“Did you think he was a terrorist?” the reporter asked as the man drove away.
Several neighbors did give interviews.
Heather Tyler, 16, talked to reporters from her spot atop the next door neighbor’s roof.
Her boyfriend, Davon Reid, lives in the home next to Shahzad’s former house. The two watched the scene all day Tuesday.
“It’s just like they left one day and left their stuff,” said Tyler, 16. “They only took their big furniture.”
Tyler said she had been in the home since Shahzad’s family vacated almost a year ago. The home is in the foreclosure process. Shahzad and his wife owe $212,870 to Chase Bank on their mortgage.
“When I first went in there, there was still baby formula in there. Clothes, shoes, books,” Tyler said. “There was ketchup, moldy stuff, in the cabinets.”
Tyler said the upstairs bedroom was infested with bugs.
“You never would really think someone around here would be connected to something like that,” said 14-year-old Marissa Correa, who watched from atop a hill with her friend Mariah Gabriel.
“We’ve been doing this all day,” Correa said “Before school we were down here talking to people. After school we came back.”
Mary Ann Galich gave interviews Tuesday morning and then spent the rest of the afternoon perched on the next-door neighbor’s front steps.
“It’s ridiculous,” Galich said. “I’m very shocked about this. You never knew it would happen here.”
Scary that here is another terrorist on the do-not-fly list who, like the recent guy with bombs on a plane, certainly flew because the feds did not act..
Seems as though we were much better protected under Bush than under Obama, when we have had several near=misses, and one successful, but comparatively minor event. (Ft. Hood with only a dozen or so dead, memory says.)
Most recent one in New York was exposed not by feds or Police, but by alert civilians in the Times Square area.
Maybe we were just lucky under Bush rather than more effective, but Obama’s pro-Islam posture may be part of it too.
Seems almost impossible to really keep up with individual terrorists, but in the last two attempts, we did have the guys on the list of probable or possible terrorists, but did not act, and were saved primarily because of the stupidity or inefficiencies of the terrorists themselves rather than good work by the feds..
—And in the Ft. Hood deal an active-duty Army Major, who blatantly spoke out against our country, was never disciplined but was just shifted to the Ft. Hood spot where he killed many innocent folk.
Scary, isn’t it?
Maybe you forgot Walt but 911 was under Bush’s watch. Or was it not that important to you or perhaps you just pick and choose what you want to remember. At least under Obama they are being found. This is going to keep happening and it is hard to stop. Have you ever heard keep your friends close and your enemies closer. I believe that is what we are trying to accomplish now
Good point Ms Bichon, but then we had several years where every threat seemed to be countered.
Since Obama began touting his pro-Islam, often surprisingly anti – the- American- side of questions, the targets of terrorism (if I may use that Obama- banned word__ appear to be saved primarily because of the terrorists’ incompetence rather than our govt’s. protective actions.
Reminder, the 911 terrorists who attacked us were found, but too late, several terrorists after 911 were, it appears, thwarted before acting in the Bush years since,
It seems clear , that the recent terrorists, the guy with the bomb in his shorts,and the recent Times Square one from Bridgeport, failed only because their explosives were poorly made or handled, not because of efficient government action, despite the Administration’s current claims to the contrary.
Again the Major at Ft. Hood, did not even seem to try to hide his anti-U>S> sentiments. but, under the current Administration his moves were covered up and he was transferred to a new station where he freely committed acts of terror.
Doubt if Obama ever knew of these terrorists before their escapades, but he created the atmosphere where his folks were not permitted to even use the word “terrorist” lest we offend the Islamists.
Maybe the safe years under Bush, after 911 were just good luck, and the recent bomber mess-ups certainly would appear to have been even more good luck, or terrorist incompetence, rather than anything done by our protective groups.
Neither of us know the answer, , but I would prefer that our government were protecting us (if that is possible) rather than just gamble that our good luck will continue