Pipe-bomb probe turns to Florida

Federal authorities investigating a spate of pipe bombs sent this week to several prominent critics of President Donald Trump have turned their attention toward southern Florida, believing that a number of the explosive devices were mailed from the area, two people briefed on the matter said Thursday.

The focus on Florida came as at least three more devices were found in Delaware and New York, the FBI said earlier Thursday. Two were addressed to former Vice President Joe Biden, a Delaware resident, and a third to actor Robert De Niro, who lives and works in Lower Manhattan.

All 10 of the similarlooking packages discovered since Monday bore return addresses from Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.

The continuing wave of bombs has prompted an intense, nationwide investigation into whether people who have criticized the president and been vilified by the right are being targeted. Investigators have started focusing on Florida because an analysis of information collected by the Postal Service indicated that many of the packages were mailed from the state and processed at postal facilities there, including one in Opa-locka.

The Miami-Dade Police Department’s bomb squad and K-9 unit swept the Opa-locka facility Thursday. “This assistance is as a precautionary measure,” the department said in a statement.

None of the devices has exploded on its own, and investigators have tried to determine whether the devices were even capable of detonating. But striking a note of caution at a news conference Thursday, the New York City police commissioner, James O’Neill, said the packages contained “live devices” that should be “treated with the utmost seriousness.”

“The devices should be considered dangerous,” O’Neill said.