Suspect had bomb components

Published 9:39 am Wednesday, June 4, 2014

SAN FRANCISCO — Federal investigators said a search of a social media expert’s apartment in San Francisco turned up ball bearings, screws and components needed to make a homemade bomb designed to kill or maim, according to an affidavit unsealed Tuesday.

Investigators said they found the materials inside a bag at the apartment of Ryan Kelly Chamberlain during a search over the weekend. The discovery prompted a manhunt for the 42-year-old Chamberlain that ended with his arrest Monday in San Francisco.

The bag also contained a circuit board, screw top glass jar with batteries, a wire and a powdery green substance believed to be explosive material, FBI Special Agent Michael Eldridge said in the document.

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“FBI bomb technicians believe that the circuit board described above was designed to serve as a remote control, allowing detonation of the device from afar,” Eldridge said. “They further believe that the device was designed to maim or kill a human being or human beings.”

The FBI has not said what, if any, plans Chamberlain might have had for the device, or how they were alerted to the material.