LEMON GROVE, Calif. -- Neighbors of a leader in San Diego's Muslim community are surprised that two men who shared his home are believed to have led the suicide hijacking that targeted the Pentagon.

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Khalid Al-Midhar and Nawaq Alhamzi rented a room last year in the home of Abdussattar Shaikh, a retired educator and founder of a San Diego Islamic center.

A third suspected hijacker also lived for a time in San Diego, and a fourth man wanted for questioning in the attacks previously lived in Los Angeles.

Neighbors on the rural Lemon Grove cul-de-sac where Shaikh lives said that he often welcomed boarders and other visitors.

"People come and go at all hours," said one neighbor, Marna Adair.

Shaikh on Friday told reporters that he was shocked to learn his former boarders, who said they were Saudi Arabians studying English, were involved in Tuesday's terror attacks.

FBI spokeswoman Jan Caldwell said Saturday that Shaikh had not been taken into custody, nor had anyone else in the San Diego area.

Shaikh is not a suspect FBI officials told 10News, and he welcomed authorities in to search his home.

About a dozen agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms searched the house late Friday, according to people living on the street.

Al-Midhar and Alhamzi lived with Shaikh last fall, according to published reports that said the three met at an Islamic center in central San Diego.

The two men were among five believed to have hijacked American Airlines Flight 77, which plunged into the Pentagon on Tuesday, killing about 190 people. Another of the hijackers, Hani Hanjour, also may have lived in San Diego last year, according to the FBI.

Hanjour apparently entered the United States on the pretense of studying English on the campus of Holy Names College in Oakland.

He applied for the English as a Second Language program last year, said Kendra Thomas, the administrative assistant for enrollment at Holy Names.

"He never came. He just applied," she said Saturday.

The program is located on the campus but is a separate entity, and Thomas had no additional information.

On Saturday, the blinds on the windows of Shaikh's home were drawn shut and no one answered the door or telephone. A note stuck to the door bore the message "Peace" and some Arabic writing. Next to the door was a shelf with several pairs of men's shoes and sandals.

One boarder who currently lives in the two-story home said Saturday that he had spoken with FBI agents and had been advised not to talk to the media.

At her home in Culver City, Shaikh's estranged wife, Safia Shaikh, said she separated from her husband five years ago and that she didn't know any of the suspects. She declined to comment further.

Shaikh was a member of a committee formed last year to make recommendations on the use of force by San Diego police officers. Several people from the 137-member committee who were contacted by The Associated Press on Saturday said they had no recollection of him.

Police spokesman Dave Cohen, who was part of the group, said that he had known Shaikh "for some time."

Asked about the reports linking Shaikh to the men, Cohen said: "I don't want to get into that. He was a valuable member of the committee. He provided different insight. That's about it."

The India-born Shaikh had been tapped to speak in honor of the victims of the terror attacks Sunday during a community forum sponsored by The San Diego Union-Tribune, but has since canceled.

Neighbors in Lemon Grove said Shaikh had lived on their street for at least 15 years. He was reclusive, they said, noting he declined to participate in the barbecues and gatherings organized on the tightly-knit block of about a half-dozen homes.

They were scornful of reports portraying Shaikh as a community leader. They recalled several serious domestic quarrels between Shaikh and his wife before she left.

San Diego County Sheriff's officials referred all calls about Shaikh to the FBI, which declined comment.

In addition to the three suspected hijackers with San Diego connections, the FBI is seeking a man who previously lived in Los Angeles.

Amer Kamfar, a flight engineer who listed a Saudi Airlines post office box as his address in FAA records, is not among the named hijackers.

At various times, however, he is listed as living at the same address in Vero Beach, Fla., as Abdul Alomari, one of the suspected hijackers aboard American Airlines Flight 11, which hit the north tower of the World Trade Center at 8:45 a.m. Tuesday.

While living previously in California, Kamfar, 41, was issued a California driver's license and stayed at a 292-unit apartment building near Los Angeles International Airport, said a building manager who did not want her name used.

She said that Kamfar lived in the building during the past few years but didn't have specific dates. The building's owners were cooperating with the FBI, she said.