Syed Farook, a 28-year-old American citizen, and his 27-year-old Pakistani wife Tashfeen Malik were killed in a firefight with police hours after the attack – leaving investigators to comb through their belongings to try to determine a motive.
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United States media, quoting law enforcement officials, said while there was no evidence that the IS group had directed Malik and Farook to carry out the attack, it appears the pair were inspired by the group.
In Pakistan, a relative of Malik said she apparently became a more zealous follower of the Muslim faith about three years ago. “And if so, it would underscore a threat we’ve been focused on for years-the danger of people succumbing to violent extremist ideologies”.
Law enforcement officials have long warned that Americans acting in sympathy with Islamic extremists – though not on direct orders – could launch an attack inside the U.S. Using slick propaganda, the Islamic State in particular has urged sympathizers worldwide to commit violence in their countries.
Islamic State said in an online radio broadcast on Saturday that two followers of the Islamist militant group had carried out Wednesday’s attack on a social services agency party in California in which 14 people were killed. The station airs news and programs in the Arabic, Kurdish, English, French, and Russian languages.
Facebook removed the post-which mentioned Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who has declared himself the leader of the terrorist organization-the day of the shooting.
However, it was uncertain whether the comments were posted by Malik herself or someone with access to her page.
“At this point we believe they were more self-radicalized and inspired by the group than actually told to do the shooting”, one official was quoted as saying by the New York Times.
“I’m aware of the Facebook posting”, Bowdich told reporters. “If you look at Paris, they didn’t have guns and they were slaughtered”.
A woman grieves for the shooting victims during a candlelight vigil at San Manuel Stadium in San Bernardino (AP) A police officer picks up a weapon from the scene of the investigation around the area of the SUV vehicle where two suspects were shot by police following a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California.
Citing an unnamed federal law enforcement official, the Los Angeles Times reported that Farook had “some kind” of contact with people from the Nusra Front and the radical Shabab group in Somalia, though the nature of that contact was unclear.
FBI Director James Comey said, however, that there was no indication the couple were “part of an organized larger group or part of a cell”.
The White House released a statement on Saturday after a briefing from FBI Director Comey, Attorney General Lynch, Secretary of Homeland Security Johnson on the latest details of the investigation.
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“It just doesn’t make sense for these two to be able to act like some kind of Bonnie and Clyde or something”, Farook’s family attorney David S. Chesley said.
