One of the attackers who killed 14 people in San Bernardino, Calif., last week, received the assault rifles used in the massacre from a friend to avoid arousing suspicion by purchasing them himself, a law enforcement official said Friday.
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Divers were looking for electronic devices, a hard drive and other items linked to the shooters.
“We have indications through leads that at some point they came to this park”, said David Bowdich, assistant director in charge of the Los Angeles field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
An FBI spokesman said that the two suspects were thought to have visited the park on the day of the shooting.
Authorities wouldn’t say what, specifically, might be in the water, but said they had several leads that Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik had been there around the time they killed 14 people and wounded 22 – one more than was known to be wounded until Thursday.
The official said the goal of Thursday’s search was to see if the two left or stored anything at the lake, which is approximately 2.5 miles north of the IRC.
A source cautioned the Times, though, that school photos found on a phone belonging to Farook may have been taken as part of Farook’s job as a county health inspector, a job that included inspecting school cafeterias. The couple died in a shootout with law enforcement hours after the attack, leaving behind a 6-month-old daughter.
The discovery indicates that Malik and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, may have been capable of more terror had they successfully connected with the Islamic militant groups.
“They were actually radicalized before they started courting or dating each other online, and online as early as the end of 2013, they were talking to each other about jihad and martyrdom before they became engaged and then married and lived together in the United States”, FBI Director James Comey said at a Senate oversight hearing Wednesday.
Authorities are also investigating a possible connection between Farook and the leader of a terrorist group from Pomona who was arrested in 2012. Both Marquez and the bride, Russian-born Mariya Chernykh, list the same home address as Raheel Farook.
Marquez hasn’t been charged with a crime and has been cooperating with authorities.
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“I don’t think we know yet enough to say these were apparent without the advantage of hindsight”, Schiff said.
