Police and forensic specialists are passing in and out of First American Fried Chicken, the restaurant in Elizabeth, New Jersey owned by the Rahami family, David Lawler reports.

Local businesses, including a hair salon and laundromat, are still open, but there is a subdued atmosphere as children leaving school stop by to watch the investigation.

Devon, 14, said he used to frequent the restaurant because his friend Aziz worked there.

He said the family was "very nice", but that he did not remember Ahmad.

Alex Bajera, 12, said he went daily to "the shack", as he called the fried chicken restaurant, and is good friends with Ahmad's youngest brother. He said he saw Ahmad regularly, and would say hello.

"I was pretty shocked because I didn't think he'd do anything as bad as this. Or anything bad," he said.

Alex said the family was very nice, and Ahmad's father "very religious".

"Every day I went to the shack and his dad was always praying in the back," he said.

He speculated that his friend, Ahmad's brother who he said was well known and liked in the neighbourhood, was probably "very upset".

Marcella Perrotti owner of Short Cuts salon on the same corner as the chicken shop, described the Rahamis as "misfits".

"I only went in there once, but they didn't really interact with people. Like me, you could go across the street and they know me, go down the street and they know me. Nobody knew them," she said.