Waco police said that a suspicious package that was placed against the gas pump is safe after an investigation by the McLennan County bomb squad.
The suspicious package was at the Valero Station on Hwy 84 and Speegleville Road.
The bomb squad said that the package was a utility locator machine that had wires. They said that to the untrained eye, it could look like a bomb.
They do not why someone left this piece of construction equipment and they are investigating. Police said that what happened this morning is the ideal way to handle a situation like this.
Neighbors headed evacuation warnings and cooperated with police.
Richard Sullivan and his wife were evacuated from their home off Speegleville road after he said a firefighter knocked on their door telling them to do so.
"It was causing a few mixed feelings when we were told there was a bomb, possible earlier," Sullivan said.
Evacuating brought back memories from 2013 when they had to leave his home for 10 days following the West Explosion. In addition, their daughter cannot return to her house in the Houston area because of flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey.
"My daughter is now experiencing, which we had experienced in losing our house, our home, and then we are being asked to evacuate, even though it's not all on the same day or same page. It's just a certain amount of frustration on my part," Sullivan said.
Sullivan and his wife were relieved when the McLennan County Sheriff bomb squad determined it was a piece of construction equipment.
Police praised employees for reporting the suspicious package.
"Thank you for calling us and letting us know. Never let this dissuade you well it wasn't so what. We would so much rather come out and make sure that was nothing than be notified and one person get hurt," Waco Police Sgt. Swanton said.
The employees who reported the package slightly opened it before calling the police and Swanton strongly advised against looking inside a package you are unsure of.
Instead, he said to call police immediately.
Police said the danger zone was a 500-yard radius. The evacuation was done as a precautionary measure. Police were going door-to-door to notify everyone of this evacuation and making doors with pieces of paper once they've done so.
Waco police asked Valero Station employees what the package looked like and the employee told them it looked like "a bomb on TV."
"Had this been an actual explosive device, it could've caused significant damage," Sgt. Patrick Swanton said.
Waco police said all children at River Valley Intermediate School were safe on lock down.
Devlin Watson who has a daughter who goes to that school said he put his trust on school officials and Waco Police," Watson said.
Police originally stated the school in the area was Speegleville Elementary, but later corrected it to River Valley Intermediate School. Speegleville Elementary is not directly affected by this incident.
Traffic was backed up on Hwy 84 and Speegleville Road.
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