Middle East Pair Sought Out Captain, Official Says

A federal law enforcement official today said two Middle Eastern-looking men were in Will Rogers’ neighborhood looking for the home of the Vincennes skipper in the weeks before a van driven by his wife was bombed.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it was not clear if investigators had been able to piece together detailed descriptions of the two men. The information was based on interviews with neighbors, the official said.

Rogers commanded the missile cruiser that mistakenly shot down an Iranian airliner in the Persian Gulf last July, killing all 290 people aboard.

Rogers’ wife, Sharon, was driving the van Friday when the bomb exploded, destroying the vehicle. Sharon Rogers was not injured.

Investigators remained uncertain today whether the bomb was the work of terrorists retaliating for the jetliner’s downing.

The law enforcement official, who said the men were spotted asking where the Navy captain lived, spoke following a report in today’s New York Times that a man of Middle Eastern appearance asked passers-by, “Where does the captain live?”

Will Rogers had driven the van earlier Friday for a regular trip to a nearby doughnut shop, and he thought he may have been the intended target. The Rogerses have been under the protection of naval intelligence agents at an undisclosed location since shortly after the bombing.

Navy officials said they were awaiting FBI findings to determine when the couple can return to work.