“It’s unfortunate that we’re on this list now, a list like Newtown, Aurora and others where such tragic events occurred”, Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., told a crowd at a mosque. “It’s not how I want San Bernardino remembered”. There were American flags, a poster that read “Pray for the world”, balloons, candles and cards. On Saturday, many residents resolved to get on with life but said they were still anxious.
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Federal agents in Riverside conducted a search early on Saturday at what neighbors say was the house of a childhood friend of Syed Rizwan Farook, who with his wife killed 14 people in a mass shooting in California on Wednesday.
“Whether you consider this a request or a dictation [order], I would advise you not to pursue this story”, one said.
At another area mosque, the Dar-Al-Uloom Al-Islamiyah, where Farook went more recently about two to three times a week, Gasser Shehata said he knew Farook to be “a very quiet person, more on the shy side”. Silver-framed photos of the victims were placed on a table at the Islamic Community Center of Redlands, with a candle lit for each. They lack clear evidence that the wife was radicalised overseas or that she in turn radicalised her husband, though they are actively investigating that, the official said.
“Usually when terrorist plots are broken up, it’s by intercepting communications among members”.
“It is really sad that we meet because of this”. A year before she got married, she started to dress more conservatively and began wearing a scarf that covered all but her nose and eyes, the maid said.
The Inland Regional Center posted video of the party on Twitter only hours before the massacre.
“I think I can’t say definitively right now what led either of these two to pick up guns and become murderers”.
“We are now investigating these horrific acts as an act of terrorism”, David Bowdich, assistant director of the FBI’s Los Angeles office, announced during a news conference Friday.
As investigators probe Wednesday’s rampage as an act of terrorism, the White House said President Barack Obama will address the nation on Sunday evening to update the public.
USA officials said Farook had been in contact with extremists via social media, but one official said those contacts were not recent and did not involve any significant players on the FBI’s radar.
Malik was from the province of Punjab but had lived with her family in Saudi Arabia for many years before returning to Pakistan to study pharmacy. One witness at the party where the rampage took place said Farook had suddenly left and returned a short while later heavily armed, dressed in black military-style gear and a mask-and accompanied by his wife.
The Dec. 2 San Bernardino, California massacre exposed an open “back door” to the United States through which terrorists can enter easily, authorities revealed.
While radical Islamic groups at times have mobilized women as suicide bombers, and extremist women may exhort their men to attacks, it is extremely rare in conservative Muslim societies for female jihadists to take part in actual combat, as Malik did. Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Zarar Khan in Islamabad, Pakistan; Asim Tanveer in Karor Lal Esan, Pakistan; Aya Batrawy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; and Amy Taxin in San Bernardino. “She used to tell us that this is the real life”. “She used to give us Islamic religious literature”. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki told The Associated Press that authorities there have received no indication Malik was radicalised in Saudi Arabia.
And in Pakistan on Sunday, the interior minister said the country has launched its own investigation and offered assistance to USA authorities.
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Men who claimed to be from security agencies but who refused to provide identification also sought to discourage Reuters from further reporting on Malik’s background, threatening journalists with arrest for unspecified offenses.
