FBI agents search home in Corona again as San Bernardino probe continues
FBI agents on Thursday searched a home in Corona for a second time as they sought more information about the married couple, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, who killed 14 people in San Bernardino, a spokeswoman said.
The agents obtained a federal search warrant, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles.
“The affidavit in support of the warrant is under seal, so I cannot comment further,” he said.
The search of the home in Corona, in the 1700 block of Forum Way, did not result in any arrests, said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller.
Neighbors said FBI agents and SWAT officers participated in the search.
“FBI agents with bullhorns showed up at 5 a.m.,” said Lorraine Otto, who lives next door to the home . “They kept saying, ‘This is the FBI. Open the door. If you don’t open the door, we’ll break it open.’”
Eventually, a man emerged. “The agents asked, ‘Who else? Is a young child in there?’ The man said, ‘My daughter,’” Otto said.
Moments later, Otto said, a woman with a young child in her arms emerged from the residence.
Jessica Lopez, 29, who lives across the street, also witnessed the raid, which ended about 6 a.m. Thursday.
“It was as though an entire army poured into that place,” she said. “One man was led away in handcuffs.”
Otto and other neighbors said they believed that the couple had been living in the condo for about a year. One of them, a woman they knew as “Tatiana,” operated a beauty salon out of the attached garage.
Law enforcement authorities had first searched the Corona condominium on Wednesday afternoon and, according to neighbors, found it uninhabited and empty of furniture.
Several neighbors said they saw the residents moving large boxes and furniture out and into SUVs a week ago.
At about 10 a.m. Thursday morning, a white SUV driven by a woman wearing a black covering on her head drove slowly past the condominium, but did not stop. A few minutes later, two Corona police officers arrived at the scene and observed the condo from across the street.
The search of a different property, a condo in Redlands, was also conducted under a sealed warrant. San Bernardino police Chief Jarrod Burguan said Farook and Malik were listed in the rental agreement for that residence, but he did not know if they were living there or elsewhere.
That property came under scrutiny after the couple was spotted in a black SUV by police after the shootings. The couple fled and police pursued, and the chase culminated in a gun battle back in San Bernardino in which both assailants were killed.
Investigators spent hours combing the Redlands residence — a brown, two-story townhouse nestled among a row of matching buildings with well-trimmed lawns along Center Street. A front window was broken and the porch light was on.
On Thursday afternoon, FBI officials combed through a Lexus parked outside that belonged to the couple. The car’s doors, trunk and hood had been open since before dawn. Later, a half-dozen people wearing FBI shirts set up a blue tent and two tables near the vehicle and began photographing the car.
Burguan said the search of the Redlands home found 12 pipe-bomb-type devices in the garage; hundreds of tools, many of which could be used to build improvised explosive devices or pipe bombs; and thousands of rounds of ammunition.
“There were another 2,000 9-millimeter rounds found at that house. Over 2,500 .223[-caliber] rounds found at that house,” Burguan said.
Twitter: @lacrimes; @LouisSahagun; @katemather
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