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In the shadows of Warren Harding High School in Bridgeport, a throng of news media descended on the home of attempted car bomber Faisal Shahzad Tuesday.
Dozens of vehicles bearing the familiar names of television networks, cable TV stations and metropolitan newspapers filled the lot at the corner of Boston Avenue and Sheridan Street. Bridgeport police officers and strings of yellow tape prevented most from getting too close to the three-story structure at 202 Sheridan. FBI agents and other law-enforcement officials converged on the home, and neighbors said authorities in coveralls were seen carrying out boxes of materials. An FBI spokeswoman confirmed agents searched the house early Tuesday.
Shahzad, 30, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Pakistan, was aboard a Dubai-bound flight at Kennedy International Airport in New York when FBI agents and New York Police Dept. detectives took him into custody late Monday. The suspect has admitted his role in driving a bomb-laden SUV meant to cause a fireball in Times Square Saturday night, Attorney General Eric Holder confirmed at a press conference Tuesday. The bombs failed to detonate.
Several news outlets reported that the sale of the 1993 Nissan Pathfinder was negotiated over Craigslist and that the buyer paid $1,300 in cash to a woman identified by the Hartford Courant as Peggy Colas, a 19-year-old college student from Bridgeport.
Shahzad, who had recently returned from a five-month trip to his native Pakistan, where he had a wife, told investigators that he received bomb-making training in the militant strongholds of Pakistan. University of Bridgeport officials said the suspect received a B.S. degree from the university in 2001.
Shahzad, who was scheduled to appear later Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan, will face terrorism and weapons of mass destruction charges, Holder said. "Based on what we know so far, it is clear that this was a terrorist plot aimed at murdering Americans in one of the busiest places in our country."
"This case has been deeply disconcerting to all of us but I want people to know that Connecticut's State Police, our homeland security officials and other law enforcement agencies in the state are working vigorously with the FBI, the Joint Terrorism Task Force and New York authorities and have been since Saturday," Gov. M. Jodi Rell said following a briefing from commissioners of the state's Department of Public Safety and the Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.
"In fact," the governor continued, "the cooperation across all agencies, across all boundaries and across all levels of government has been tremendous. I know it will continue. It must continue. The state has had a strong presence at every step of the investigation and we remain actively involved."
Meanwhile, in Shelton, city police cordoned off the former 119 Long Hill Ave. home of Shahzad, as federal investigators planned to execute a search warrant there, police said.
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