CNN law enforcement analyst Harry Houck said Friday he was "shocked" by live scenes of the media rummaging through the residence of the husband and wife suspected of carrying out Wednesday’s Islamic State-inspired terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif.
"Is this common?" CNN anchor Anderson Cooper asked Houck as a CNN correspondent tramped through the home of Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, who were killed after a prolonged gun battle with police on Wednesday. "I mean I guess at some point the police give up the crime scene and somebody else takes it over—"
"Anderson, I have chills down my spine at what I am seeing here. This apartment clearly is full of evidence," Houck said, shaking his head.
Footage from inside the residence shot by CNN and MSNBC showed several copies of the Quran, a bin of shredded papers, and identifying documents for people who have not been named as suspects in Wednesday’s terrorist attack.
Houck said that the media should never have been allowed to enter the house, which was reportedly used as an armory and bomb factory.
"I will tell you that I am so shocked that I cannot believe it," Houck said. "This is Detective 101 for crying out loud. It looks like there are dozens of people in there, totally destroying a crime scene which is still vital in this investigation."
The media’s presence, Houck said, might make it difficult for investigators to identify fingerprints of individuals who had been in the house
"The police—if the police are watching this, they need to be on the way down there to stop this from happening," Houck said.
Several media outlets have claimed that they were allowed to go in the residence by the landlord. The landlord has disputed that claim.
The San Bernardino Sheriff’s Office said it has "no clue" who gave reporters access to the residence, according to The Blaze.
Transcript below:
ANDERSON COOPER: I want to bring in Harry Houck, our former member of the NYPD and police investigator. Is this common? The police give it up, and then d—-
HARRY HOUCK: Anderson, I have chills down my spine at what I am seeing here. This apartment clearly is full of evidence. I don’t see any fingerprint dust on the walls where they went in to check for fingerprints of people who are connected with these two. You’ve got documents laying all over the place. You have shredded documents that need to be taken out of there and put together to see what was shredded. You have passports, you have drivers’ licenses. Now you have thousands of fingerprints all over inside of this crime scene.
Now, this should have been some crime scene tape up there. Usually in an instance like this, if crime scene goes in and comes out, you still keep the scene locked up with a sign on board saying that you cannot come in until the police release it. Maybe they did not do that here. I am—I will tell you that I am so shocked that I cannot believe it. This is Detective 101 for crying out loud.
Now it looks like dozens of people in there, totally destroying a crime scene which—which is still vital in this investigation, because we don’t know how many other people that were connected with in this thing. So there might be tons of fingerprints in there that we need to look at to see if there is any connection with those fingerprints or some people on a watch list or something else.
I am really shocked here that the police—that the police—if they are watching this, they need to be on their way down there to stop this from happening, because this is—this is—I am shaking over it. That is how irresponsible this is by law enforcement to let this happen.