FBI, ATF Divers Resume Searching Lake In San Bernardino For Digital Evidence
SAN BERNARDINO (CBSLA.com) — Two FBI dive teams Friday continued to search a small San Bernardino lake for digital evidence as part of an investigation into the shooting massacre that claimed the lives of 14 people and injured nearly two dozen others.
Federal officials have not clarified if divers have located any evidence in the water.
Dive teams could continue their search for a third day, depending on the results of today's investigation.
Around 7:30 a.m. on Thursday, federal agents received several leads that San Bernardino shooters Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik were believed to have visited Seccombe Lake following the shooting on Dec. 2 to remove evidence.
"We are building a timeline of everything we know to ensure that we can retrace every step they took," said FBI Director David Bowdich. "We're just trying to ensure we account for every minute of the time that day."
COMPLETE COVERAGE: San Bernardino Shooting
Divers were searching for a computer hard drive that may be in the water, investigators told CBS News.
Federal agents explained there is a missing hard drive from a computer that was found in the home of Farook and Malik. The drive could contain critical information that shows the radicalized couple was planning an even larger attack.
According to the Los Angeles Times, digital evidence seized during a raid on the Redlands home shows Farook and Malik may have been planning a possible assault at a separate building at a nearby school or college.
Authorities are also investigating a possible connection between Farook and the leader of a terrorist group from Pomona who was arrested in 2012.
The small man made lake is located within an urban park, about three miles north of the Inland Regional Center (IRC), where the shooting massacre took place.
Officials say the married couple ambushed Farook's fellow San Bernardino County health inspectors at a holiday party located within the IRC. The couple died hours later in a police shootout.
CBS2's Crystal Cruz reported from the lake and watched divers pull out several items.
A terror expert told her that divers would pull out anything and everything -- even a soda can -- if they thought it might contain crucial evidence.
"Electronic equipment can still contain important information that can be recovered even if it's been submerged for some time," said terror expert Brian Levin. "Look at what happens with black boxes that come out of crashed airplanes. Now, of course, they are in much more sealed units, but the bottom line is, you take that item, you seal it in the water, and deliever it to the computer techs that work with the FBI, they are the most advanced in this business. And if there is recoverable information, they're the ones to do it."
Levin, a professor at Cal State San Bernardino, thinks the very public search has a purpose.
"Here's my guess," he says, "They're looking for evidence. And the more this is in the media and on television, the more tipsters who might call in to help them to figure out where some missing items are."
Cruz said the dive teams are expected to return to the lake Saturday to search additional areas.
