Investigators swarmed an upscale Irvine neighborhood this week after a juvenile mixed unknown chemicals inside a single-family home, prompting a call to police and triggering a massive federal response.
Police first responded on Monday to the home on Cartwheel after a landlord reported “suspicious activity” at the residence, according to the Irvine Police Department. The Orange County Fire Authority determined that items found inside the home required further investigation, and local agencies contacted the FBI, police said.
Irvine police said on Thursday that the initial call was triggered by a report that a juvenile at the home “mixed unknown chemicals.”
“The specific substances involved, along with the surrounding circumstances, are being carefully and methodically evaluated by subject matter experts from multiple disciplines,” Irvine police said in a statement.
When authorities searched the home, they discovered chemicals that could be used for terrorist activities, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation. However, the source said, it’s unclear exactly how the chemicals were being used. The source spoke to The Times on condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation candidly.
The multimillion-dollar, four-bedroom home at the center of the investigation is in Altair, an exclusive gated community adjacent to the Great Park and across the street from Portola High School. The posh neighborhood offers residents access to 24/7 security, multiple pools, tennis courts and a clubhouse. The home under investigation was listed for rent in April 2021 for $7,500 a month, according to Zillow.
A person identified in public records as a possible tenant at the home hung up when contacted by a Times reporter on Thursday. The homeowner could not immediately be reached for comment.
Helicopter footage captured by KTLA showed a large deployment of personnel and vans surrounding the home, as workers dressed in hazmat suits and wearing respirators carried items outside the home. FBI agents without protective gear were also seen walking around the property.
On Thursday morning, a guard stationed at the front entrance to the community referred reporters to local investigators, saying they were not permitted to allow anyone inside.
From the outside, nothing immediately appeared to be out of the ordinary aside from the news vans that lined the street adjacent to the community.
Teslas and Mercedes Benz SUVs streamed out from behind the gates and construction at the adjacent neighborhood continued without interruption. The sound of the bubbling fountain at the entrance to Altair was muffled by the whirr of news helicopters that had hovered above the neighborhood off and on since Wednesday, causing chatter and speculation among residents.
No one had been ordered to evacuate, and there was no known threat to the community, police said. Still, that warning did not fully calm the nerves of residents jolted by the dramatic operation in a suburb that’s known as one of the safest cities of its size in the country.
“Even though they tell you it’s safe, it doesn’t really inspire safety in the people who live there when they see people who are fully kitted out and walking into a house,” neighbor Ahmed Bajwa told KTLA on Wednesday. Bajwa said the people who lived in the home targeted by the operation were a family and did not appear suspicious.
“It wasn’t anything that fits what you would think this type of response would justify,” he said.
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