FBI Director Comey told the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday that in 2013, even before the rise of the Islamic State, the Malik and Farook were communicating with one another online. Two of the men were later found guilty, and two pleaded guilty.
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The investigation “indicates that they were actually radicalized before they started courting or dating each other online”, he told the Senate Judiciary Committee during a hearing.
The neighbor and longtime friend of Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the San Bernardino shooters, admitted to law enforcement that he and Farook considered taking action as far back as 2012, but abandoned the plot, according Sen. Marquez has not been charged with a crime.
Authorities say Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, used the guns to ambush his fellow county health inspectors December 2 at what was supposed to be a festive annual meeting.
The assailants shot dead 14 people and wounded another 21 at a party full of Farook’s co-workers, before dying in a shootout with police hours later.
The search could last for a few days, he said.
Farook was not among those investigated at the time, KTLA-TV reported, but two USA law enforcement officials reportedly said that Farook knew Kabir.
Michael McCaul confirmed to ABC News that Farook was apparently contemplating jihadi terrorism in California as early as 2012, but said, “They got cold feet”.
At around that same time, neighbours report, Marquez and Farook seemed to become estranged.
Farook and Marquez were listed as witnesses on the marriage license when Farook’s brother, Raheel, Wednesday a Russian woman in 2011.
Marquez converted to Islam and attended mosque sermons on and off for a couple years, said Azmi Hasan, who has served as facility manager of the Islamic Society of Corona-Norco since 2000.
Almost two-thirds of people who intend to vote Republican in the 2016 presidential primaries say they are in favor of Donald Trump’s call to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States, a recent poll has found. “At least in part, we see an ISIL inspiration”, Comey said, using an acronym from the terror group. He had worked at Wal-Mart since May but has since been fired, spokesman Brian Nick said.
“Both subjects were radicalized and have been for quite some time”, David Bowdich, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said at a news conference Monday.
Around mid-afternoon, Marquez’s mother and two siblings came home but declined to speak to the media.
Marquez did not live with his wife, she said, and he never explained his living arrangements.
He last saw Marquez in the past month or so when Marquez fell asleep at a friend’s house and they stacked beer cans on his body. “He was a pretty laid-back guy”.
The neighbor, Enrique Marquez, legally purchased the rifles – semiautomatic AR-15s manufactured by DPMS and Smith & Wesson – in California, officials say. It’s unclear where he is now. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.
The first funeral of one of the 14 fatalities in the San Bernardino shooting will be held later today as the federal investigation into the terrorist attack continues.
The couple Wednesday a year ago. Mr. Comey said it is still unknown whether their marriage may have been orchestrated on behalf of any terrorist organization, or if the match was simply one of two like-minded individuals.
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“Everyone’s asking the same questions about how it is that law enforcement didn’t know, or intelligence officials didn’t know – that they could have flown under the radar and nothing gave an indication that they were a threat”, said Rep. Jim Langevin, a Rhode island Democrat and member of the House Homeland Security Committee.
