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 The search at the lake in a public park 2.5 miles (4 km) north of
the site of the Dec. 2 shooting at a regional center in San
Bernardino, began on Thursday after reports the suspects were
spotted nearby either before or after the attack.
ABC News and other news organizations had reported that the divers
at San Bernardino Lake were looking for a computer hard drive that
belonged to the married couple, Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and Tashfeen
Malik, 29.
But FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller declined on Sunday to describe
the objects or say whether they appeared to be connected to the mass
shooting.
"We have not commented on the items, or whether they are
case-related, due to the ongoing investigation," Eimiller said,
responding to a media report the objects retrieved in the search
were not tied to the crimes under investigation.
"Divers tend to find all sorts of items in public lakes," she said,
and any objects found "will be analyzed for evidentiary value in
this case."
 U.S. officials have said their investigation has yet to turn up
evidence that foreign militants directed Farook or Malik when they
stormed a holiday gathering of Farook's co-workers and opened fire
with assault rifles.
The couple fatally shot 14 people and wounded more than 20 in a
rampage the FBI said it was treating as an act of terrorism inspired
by Islamist militants. If that is confirmed, it would be the most
lethal such attack on U.S. soil since the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacked
plane attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
Farook, the U.S.-born son of Pakistani immigrants, and Malik, a
Pakistani native he married last year in Saudi Arabia, were killed
in a shootout with police hours after the assault in San Bernardino,
60 miles (100 km) east of Los Angeles.
The FBI has said the couple declared they were acting on behalf of
Islamic State. But FBI Director James Comey has said there was no
evidence the militant group was aware of them before the attack.
BACKLASH?
As authorities investigate the shooting, concerns have mounted about
a possible backlash against Muslim-Americans after reports of
vandalism at three Southern California mosques since Friday.
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The incidents recalled threats and violence against Muslim targets
in United States following the Sept. 11, attacks.
On Friday, a fire that appeared to have been intentionally set
burned the entrance to a mosque in Southern California's Coachella
Valley, 75 miles (120 km) from San Bernardino.
A 23-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of arson and committing
a hate crime, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's
Department.
On Sunday, police in the city of Hawthorne, 130 miles (210 km) west
of Coachella Valley in Los Angeles County, were investigating
separate acts of vandalism at mosques, apparently overnight, that
authorities have classified as hate crimes.
The word "Jesus" had been spray-painted on a fence at an Ahmadiyya
Muslim Community mosque and a plastic replica of a hand grenade was
left in the parking lot, Hawthorne police said.
An official with the group said it was cooperating with police and
the FBI and inviting members of the community to visit the mosque.
In another incident, "Jesus is the way" had been spray-painted on
the front of the Islamic Center of Hawthorne, police said.
(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee and Eric M. Johnson in
Seattle; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Peter Cooney)
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