Investigators found numerous items during a search of a residence that was rented by the two suspects, 28-year-old Syed R. Farook and 27-year-old Tashfeen Malik, who were both killed in a firefight with police as they fled the home.
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“But it is clear that the two of them had gone down the dark path of radicalization, embracing a perverted interpretation of Islam that calls for war against America and the West”, the President said. She did not have a specific address.
“The FBI is still gathering the facts about what happened in San Bernardino, but here’s what we know: The victims were brutally murdered and injured by one of their co-workers and his wife”. Farook lived in the home next door with relatives until a few months ago.
Mohammad Abuershaid, an attorney for Farook’s family, said Malik moved to Riyadh when she was between 18 and 20. However, officials don’t know if Marquez acquired the guns on behalf of Farook.
“The whole family … they keep to themselves, they’re very neighborly”, Rose said of the Marquez family.
Neighbors say authorities with guns drawn broke windows and used a cutting torch to get into the garage. The agency said it was treating the attack as an “act of terrorism”.
Tashfeen Malik, the 29-year old Pakistani woman who – along with her husband Syed Rizwan Farook — is accused of shooting to death 14 people on a holiday banquet in San Bernardino, California, last Wednesday, entered the United States using a special visa issued to fiancées of USA citizens, prompting concerns over the ability of U.S. authorities to stop terrorists from entering the country.
On Saturday, several news organizations including CNN and the Associated Press reported that the Islamic State extremist group had described the couple as “supporters” of the group in an online radio broadcast.
“From what we heard, they lived differently, their mindset is different…. this is very shocking for us”, said school teacher Hifza Bibi, a step-sister of Tashfeen’s father.
FBI Director James Comey noted the bureau’s investigation so far has shown no evidence that the shooters were part of a larger group or members of a terror cell.
He said no motive had been discovered for the massacre, but added that terrorism has not been ruled out. “And if so, it would underscore a threat we’ve been focused on for years – the danger of people succumbing to violent extremist ideologies”.
A man and a woman suspected of taking part in the shooting, which killed 14 and wounded 17, died in a shoot-out with police near their vehicle, hours after attackers opened fire inside a conference building in the Inland Regional Centre in San Bernardino. Malik Ahmad Ali Aulakh, a cousin of Malik’s father, was once a provincial minister. But there is no sign anyone from the group communicated with her or provided any guidance for the attack.
The post, declaring her loyalty to Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, was made on an account with a different name, although officials did not explain how they knew Malik made the post.
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A family member in her hometown of Karor Lal Esan, who asked not to be identified, told the Los Angeles Times that Malik was “a modern girl” who became religious while studying at the university. “She used to give us Islamic religious literature”. “She was a practicing Muslim, she believed in the religion and she was just doing the five prayers a day, the fasting…”, he said.
