San Jose police said Thursday morning they arrested a man for allegedly possessing explosive material in the 600 block of Potomac Court.
Police identified the suspect as 35-year-old Peter Karasev and said they are also investigating possible narcotics activity at the same location near Gunderson High School in South San Jose.
Karasev lived at the two-story home with his wife and two children, ages unknown, police said.
Police said they will be at the scene for the next couple of days while they collect "a substantive amount of evidence."
“The goal right now is to render this home safe, we have done some evacuations of nearby residences just in case there is some sort of blast while we are handling this material,” said Christian Camarillo.
Police started letting families back in Thursday evening, just after they reduced the perimeter.
“I always felt something wasn't right when you would pass that house,” said Helen Castillo, who lives near the suspect’s home.
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“It's scary. It's hard to believe, I always thought there was something strange about him,” said Luis Moreno.
Moreno lives right next door and his family is one of several who were evacuated Thursday, as experts evaluated and removed the explosive material.
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He said that he had several conversations with the suspect who has a wife and two children.
“My wife even took care of his kids one time,” he said.
Moreno and others said they saw and heard suspicious activity like bombs going off. But they never imagined the magnitude of the situation.
San Jose police are working with the FBI, the National Guard and the Santa Clara County bomb squad as they work to deem the house safe again.
Police told NBC Bay Area said they are going to stay in the area until further notice. They added that there's no ongoing threat to the public.
