That possibility emerged late last week when it was disclosed that the Pakistani-born Malik had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group in a Facebook post at about the same time she and husband Syed Farook launched the attack Wednesday that left 14 people dead at a holiday luncheon. Sources close to the investigation confirmed that they had found a message of support to ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi but did not explain how they knew Malik had made the post.
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SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) – Investigators are looking into whether Tashfeen Malik radicalized her American-born husband and was the driving force in the San Bernardino massacre plot, two officials said Sunday.
Mr Burguan said police went to a house in Redlands on Wednesday afternoon, and saw the couple take off in a black sport utility vehicle.
President Obama is scheduled to address the nation Sunday evening about government measures to keep people safe following the attack.
“The wild card here is the wife Malik”, said McCaul, the Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.
She listed multiple instances of domestic abuse in the legal filing, and said her husband “threatens to kill himself on a daily basis”. “We’re going to get to the bottom of this”. They died in a shootout with police.
The Malik family moved to Saudi Arabia when she was a child, but Tashfeen traveled frequently to the Punjab region to visit family and she returned there to attend Bahauddin Zakariya University in the city of Multan in southern Punjab to study pharmacology from 2007 to 2012.
The FBI said it is investigating the rampage as a terrorist attack.
Federal agents tore through a garage door to search a house in Riverside, a few miles (km) southwest of San Bernardino, on a street where neighbors said Farook once lived.
Hillary Clinton referred to the San Bernardino shooting suspects as ISIS “wannabes”, on Sunday due to their social media activity online, and said social media companies should help track and shut down suspected terrorist communication.
Authorities have said in addition to terrorism, workplace issues with religion is a possible motive.
Rose said Marquez and Farook were next-door neighbors and “very close friends”.
It is yet unclear when Malik became radicalized and what information she provided authorities to obtain a visa to enter the U.S. Foreigners applying from countries such as Pakistan, which is recognized as a home for Islamic extremists, undergo additional scrutiny before being granted a K-1 visa. “It is sad that only in death are we able to celebrate humanity”, 30-year-old mosque member Ajarat Bada said, fighting back tears.
The couple had two assault-style rifles, two handguns, 12 pipe bombs and more than 6,000 rounds of ammunition in their home or with them when they were killed, officials said, prompting fears they might have been plotting more attacks.
The young woman swapped her Western clothes for the head-covering hijab or the all-covering burqa worn only by the most conservative Muslim women. According to a law enforcement official, the raid targeted Enrique Marquez, who is believed to have bought the two military-grade rifles used in the attack. Batool said the two families were not on speaking terms. “We think that she had a lot to do with the radicalisation process and perhaps with Mr. Farook’s radicalisation from within in the United States”.
Federal Bureau of Investigation officials say Farook and Malik seem to have been inspired by foreign militant groups, but that there was no sign they worked with any of them or that IS even knew who they were.
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So far, officials have speculated that Farook’s apparent radicalization may have been part of the reason.
