By Adam Phillips
Law enforcement continues to investigate leads, apparently provided by Pakistani-American Faisal Shahzad, the man charged with placing a homemade bomb in a car in New York City’s Times Square on May 1.
The scene was tense on a normally quiet residential street as FBI agents raided a house in connection with their investigation into the failed Times Square bomb attack.
Although an FBI spokesperson offered no specific information relating to the action or another raid in nearby Brookline, Massachusetts, Kim Tunnicliffe of WBEZ radio was the scene and says a person was taken into custody.
“One neighbor told me the suspect taken out of this house was a young man of Middle Eastern descent. He also said the house has seen a very high turnover rate over the last year or so, with lots of tenants coming and going,” said Tunnicliffe.
Tunnicliffe says the street was cordoned off and FBI agents could be seen leaving the house with bags of evidence, including computers.
An FBI spokeswoman in Boston said there is no known immediate threat to the public or of an active terrorist plot against the United States.
According to local radio reporter Kim Tunnicliffe, residents did not feel themselves to be in immediate danger in connection with the raid, but that there was a sense of urgency in the area.
“It has that feeling. A lot of neighbors coming out of their houses, standing on their lawns looking, not believing that this is happening right in their backyard, so close to home,” he said.
Tunnicliffe adds that local police were on hand to control traffic and the crowds.
“But the show is really being run by the FBI, and the FBI here at the scene, anyway, really have not said anything,” Tunnicliffe said.
The alleged bomber, has not appeared in court. Federal investigators say he has been cooperating and has told them he received weapons training in Pakistan.