David Bowdich, the FBI’s assistant director in charge of its Los Angeles field office, said it is possible the shooters were radicalized through the Internet and not through an in-person connection.
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United States investigators have revealed the married couple who killed 14 people in the San Bernardino shooting last week had been radicalised “for some time”, as it emerged they had undertaken target practice days before the attack.
Bowdich also said both subjects had been radicalized and had been for some time, but it’s unclear how long ago that occurred and by whom.
Mr Bowdich said the couple honed their shooting skills at ranges across the Los Angeles region, including one near where the attack took place here in San Bernardino County.
They were killed in a shootout with police hours after the attack.
“There’s a number of pieces of evidence that has essentially pushed us off the cliff to say we are now investigating this as an act of terrorism”. “I will tell you right now, we don’t know those answers at this point”.
A pro-IS news agency, Aamaq, said Friday the mass shooting was perpetrated by sympathizers of the radical group, which has urged followers in the United States and elsewhere to carry out lone wolf attacks.
Pakistani police and intelligence agents have searched the house where Malik lived in Multan, seizing documents, family photo albums and a laptop belonging to Malik’s sister, Shahida, said Shabana Saif, a counterterrorism official.
“We weren’t quite sure if it was an exercise the staff were throwing that they forgot to tell us about”, he said, “but we all reacted instinctively and went under our tables”.
“The question we’re trying to get at is how did that happen and by whom and where did that happen?” he said.
Just before the shooting, Malik pledged her allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in an online posting.
Some of that new information is coming straight from Syed Farook’s father.
An uncle of Malik’s told AFP she was born in Pakistan but moved to Saudi Arabia around 1989.
Farook visited Saudi Arabia twice, once for the Hajj pilgrimage in October, 2013, and once for an off-season Umraah pilgrimage for nine days in July, 2014.
Nineteen pipes that could be turned into bombs were found in the couple’s home in Redlands, California.
Malik and Farook, 28, were known as a quiet, religious couple with an infant daughter.
Bowdich said “some were in a bag” and had to be individually unpacked, and that they were not all bombs, but had the potential to be made into them.
Although the president said his administration is constantly examining its counter-terrorism strategy to see if additional steps are needed to protect Americans, his speech included no new policy changes or announcements.
Muslim community members said they are feeling both grief over the loss and fear of a backlash against their community.
Medical officials say at least half of those injured in the California mass shooting have left area hospitals.
While most employees went back to work Monday, those at the environmental health services division, where numerous victims worked, will be off until next week.
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Farook’s dad, who is also named Syed, is being monitored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation because of his son’s terrorist status and his own trips to Pakistan. Investigators said that it is not yet clear whether workplace friction might have played some role in the couple’s choice of target. “We can’t be afraid of our lives, of our community, of our neighbors, of our co-workers”.
