| By Neil Johnson, reporter/anchor WCLO Radio |
UPDATE AS OF 6:51 P.M. THURSDAY, DEC. 21:
An official from the FBI’s Milwaukee field office says the federal agency served a search warrant Thursday afternoon on a camper-trailer that witnesses say they’d seen parked for weeks near a McDonald’s restaurant on Janesville’s northeast side.
FBI public affairs officer Leonard Peace said in an emailed statement to Big Radio on Thursday evening the FBI would not give further details of an ongoing investigation of a tow-behind camper at a parking lot near the McDonald’s at 2922 N. Pontiac Drive near Humes Road.
Big Radio witnessed FBI agents Thursday afternoon combing through a camper that was hitched to an older, blue Dodge pickup truck parked at a lot just south of the McDonald’s.
An employee of a nearby store along Pontiac Drive told Big Radio he saw armed officers in tactical gear swarm the camper around 2:30 this afternoon before they breached the camper’s side door and entered it. The employee said he saw one officer wearing a helmet remove a dark-colored box or case from the camper, and then carefully open it on the ground in the parking lot.
The employee said the officer used a mirror on a retractable pole to look in the box before pulling out multiple items from inside it and placing them in an armored evidence storage container.
Big Radio was on scene at shortly before 3 p.m., and watched as agents went in and out of the camper, removing items from inside and placing them in evidence boxes. It’s not immediately clear what officials were looking for or had discovered.
Peace in his email said the FBI had “executed a sealed federal search warrant today in Janesville.”
“We want to reassure the public that there is no danger to the community associated with our operations,” Peace wrote.
The Pontiac Drive store employee who watched the incident play out said he thinks the camper had been parked in lots near the McDonald’s for at least the last two months. The employee said some business operators along the stretch in recent weeks had asked police to check out the camper when they’d noticed it wasn’t being moved.
A Janesville police official said police had no information on the incident Thursday, but like the FBI official, police said people aren’t in any danger.
The official said Janesville police provided support and secured the area during portions of the investigation, and they said the investigation was still active Thursday evening.
Check back at Big Radio stations including WCLO Radio, and WCLO.com for more on this story.
