While information regarding a day-long federal search of a house on the corner of Eighth Street and Grand Avenue remained scarce late Tuesday, the public was not at risk, officials with the FBI said.

“We are on scene, we’re conducting legally authorized law enforcement activity and there is no threat to the public,” Michele Stevenson, a special agent for the FBI said Tuesday morning.

Just after dusk Tuesday, investigators broke down the scene and left without making a statement to reporters.

The property was still blocked off with barricades.

Agents from the FBI, Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) served a search warrant at the gray, two-story rental home at 804 Grand Ave., with the assistance of the Ames Police Department shortly after 9 a.m., a Homeland Security special agent said at the scene.

During the investigation at least 30 agents were on-scene, some wearing bulletproof vests, others wearing multiple layers in the morning to withstand the wind and cool temperatures.

Thirteen law enforcement vehicles were at the scene and Eighth Street was blocked off eastbound until Wilson Avenue.

Activity at the property — which included agents in Hazmat suits walking from the house to the white and blue crime lab tents that littered the southeastern part of the house’s lawn — drew the attention of neighborhood residents.

Throughout the day pedestrians and drivers stopped to take photos and videos with their phones to share with their friends and family. Some residents, however, said they were astonished by what they were seeing.

“This is the second crime that we’ve had like this, that I can remember in 35-years,” said Bill Buttermore, a resident from two blocks away who was walking his dog near the scene. “I saw the yellow tape and thought ‘oh this is not good.’”

Despite two vehicles parked on the property’s driveway, and items such as flowerpots strewn across the front lawn, nearby residents said they haven’t seen anyone living at the house for “months.”

“It’s been months since I had seen someone walking in and out of the house,” said Sara Hunt, who lives nearby. “Usually, you’ll see your neighbors at least once, or twice, but I haven’t actually seen anyone live in that house.”

An FBI agent took photos of one the vehicles, a teal-green Toyota Corolla that was parked on Eighth Street, that was later searched by authorities.

Ames police said officers were called to the house Friday evening on a drug-related call. The last call made to the house was an animal call in 2018, and police have been called to the house four times in recent years, including the operation on Tuesday, said Ames police Sgt. Joel Congdon.

It wasn’t clear if more information would be released Tuesday night.

The owner of the property is Michael Silva, of Olathe, Kan., and attempts to reach him Tuesday were unsuccessful.

While city officials confirmed that Silva is listed as the property owner, they could not confirm if a tenant was living there.