(Updated at 6:54 p.m.): The individual who was taken into custody on Saturday afternoon was "the wrong person," Trisler tells Santa Monica Patch.
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(Updated at 6:10 p.m.): The suspicious car has been removed from where it was located, on Armacost Ave., just north of Nebraska Ave. (Look right for photos of police examining the car.)
The West Los Angeles streets that had been blocked off have been reopened.
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(Updated at 5:55 p.m.): Sgt. Jay Trisler of the SMPD told Santa Monica Patch the suspect is not in custody, despite what Officer Ho said earlier.
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(Updated at 5:52 p.m.): The suspicious car located at Nebraska and Westgate does not belong to Hirsch, LAPD Sgt. Gary Levy told Santa Monica Patch.
Agents who have been investigating the synagogue blast responded to the scene after neighbors said the man who had been sleeping in the vehicle looked like Hirsch. The car was filled with garbage bags and other materials.
Bomb techs investigated the vehicle "based on the closeness of the [description] of the transient [to Hirsch], and the explosion we are investigating," Levy said, but no explosives were found.
Meanwhile, a resident who lives nearby told Santa Monica Patch that he thought he saw Hirsch at the bus stop at Olympic and Bundy at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.
"He had the same face and ruddy complexion" as Hirsch, whose image appeared on TV.
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(Updated at 4:47 p.m.): Hirsch is in custody, Officer Ho of the LAPD confirmed to Santa Monica Patch.
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(Updated at 4:37 p.m.): According to police, area residents say Hirsch sleeps in the suspicious vehicle located by authorities. Neighbors have seen Hirsch sleeping in the neighborhood on and off for the past two years, police say.
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(Updated at 4:33 p.m.): ABC7 reports that FBI agents and a bomb squad have also responded. Police have located a suspicious vehicle near Nebraska Ave. and Westgate Ave., according to the TV station.
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Ron Hirsch, the man whom police have linked to Thursday's blast at the Chabad House Lubavitch of Santa Monica, has been located in West Los Angeles, Patch has learned.
Police are barricading the area near Santa Monica Blvd. and Barrington Ave. They are evacuating residents and trying to block southbound traffic on Barrington.
Authorities previously said Hirsch is "extremely dangerous."
Hirsch, a transient, is being sought on state charges of possession of a destructive device, as well as unrelated local charges. Federal investigators have also expressed interest in questioning Hirsch.
Hirsch also goes by the name Israel Fisher. He is 60 years old, has brown hair and green eyes, is 5' 7" and weighs 207 pounds.
More on the synagogue blast:
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• FBI: Synagogue Bombing Suspect Arrested in Ohio
• FBI Not Ruling Out Other Suspects in Synagogue Blast
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• Synagogue Blast Was Probably Not a Terrorist Act, Anti-Defamation League Director Says
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This story was updated on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
Many thanks for your comment. There have been an awful lot of twists and turns to this story, and it should be interesting to see what the final outcome is. Thanks again, Kurt
Link: http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/General+News/89684/YWN-EXCLUSIVE%3A-Suspect-In-Santa-Monica-Chabad-Shul-Bombing-Arrested-Inside-Cleveland-Shul.html
Thanks for your note. We just got confirmation from the FBI: http://patch.com/A-g62f. We were reluctant to point to the YWN report because their sources weren't identified. Thanks again, Kurt