Co-workers told The Times that they were shocked to hear Farook’s name linked to the shooting.
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The couple dropped off their 6-month-old daughter with relatives Wednesday morning, saying they had a doctor’s appointment, Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said after talking with family.
Each of the dead suspects were dressed in actual tactical clothing and each had multiple magazines of ammunition attached to the military style clothing that they were wearing.
Nicholas Thalasinos, 52, worked for the San Bernardino County Environmental Health Department.
CNN and NBC News have reported one of the three people suspected of involvement is Syed Farook, a USA citizen.
Authorities say Syed Farook and his wife or fiancee killed 14 people at the center Wednesday. As of Thursday, two patients were listed in critical condition.
Syed Rizwan Farook – one-half of the couple behind the San Bernardino shooting massacre – was apparently radicalized and in touch with people being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for worldwide terrorism, law enforcement officials said Thursday. That level of preparation is among the factors investigators are weighing as they examine a motive for the attack.
Police say they believe the man and woman who died were the only two suspects.
“It was like they were on a mission”.
Four hours later and a few miles away, the couple were shot to death in their rented vehicle in a furious gunbattle with police.
The official said that a piece of metal pipe was thrown from the SUV while the chase was underway but that proved not to be an explosive device.
The guns were legally purchased in the United States, authorities said.
Farook was born in the U.S.to a Pakistani family, was raised in Southern California and had been a San Bernardino County employee for five years, according to authorities and acquaintances.
He had only recently returned from paternity leave.
“He was real quiet”, Chapman said.
“It was possible this was terrorist related but we don’t know”, Obama told reporters gathered in the Oval Office. “He didn’t say much at all”.
The couple left the baby with Farook’s mother in the nearby city of Redlands early on Wednesday morning, Ayloush said, relaying information he got from the brother-in-law of Farook.
She said the department was in turmoil, with many workers leaving over the past year because of problems with management.
“I was at the gym yesterday while the shooting was taking place and all the TVs were showing that footage and all I could keep thinking to myself is “God, I hope they don’t have any Eastern descent, not just Middle Eastern, anything we’d associate with a Muslim”, said Adam Hashem, 32, in Dearborn, a Detroit suburb with one of the country’s largest Muslim populations. Why would he do something like this? Disaster Distress Helpline is a national hotline dedicated to providing year-round immediate crisis counseling for people who are experiencing emotional distress related to any natural or human-caused disasters.
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“And I do think that as the investigation moves forward, it’s important for all of us, including our legislators, to see what we can do to make sure that when individuals decide that they want to do somebody harm, we make it a little harder for them to do it. Because right now it’s just too easy. The guys opened fired for 30 seconds, randomly, then paused to reload and began firing again”.
