California shooting investigated as ‘act of terrorism’ By AFP

The mass shooting in California is being
investigated as “an act of terrorism,” the FBI said
Friday, amid reports the female assailant had
pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group on
Facebook.
“The investigation so far has developed
indications of radicalization by the killers, and of
potential inspiration by foreign terrorist
organizations,” FBI director James Comey told
reporters.
He added, however, that there was no indication
that Syed Farook, 28, and his 29-year-old
Pakistani wife Tashfeen Malik were part of a
network. Authorities earlier had put her age at
27.
The developments in the probe come two days
after the couple massacred 14 people and
wounded 21 others at a year-end office party in
San Bernardino — the deadliest mass shooting in
the United States since the Newtown school
massacre in 2012.
Farook, who was born in the United States, and
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.
We have uncovered evidence that has led us to
learn of extensive planning,” David Bowdich, the
assistant FBI director in charge of the Los Angeles
office, told reporters.
There’s a number of pieces of evidence that has
essentially pushed us off the cliff to say we are
now investigating this as an act of terrorism.”
He said investigators were examining a Facebook
posting in which Malik is believed to have
pledged allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-
Baghdadi, made around the time of Wednesday’s
attack.
The massacre, if proven to be terror-related,
would be the deadliest such assault on American
soil since the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Bowdich said investigators were scrutinizing
evidence seized at the couple’s home to
determine what prompted the carnage.
They attempted to destroy their digital
fingerprints and we found cell phones that were
actually crushed in a nearby trash can,” Bowdich
said.
A pro-IS news agency, Aamaq, said Friday the
mass shooting was perpetrated by sympathizers
of the radical group, which has urged followers
in the United States and elsewhere to carry out
lone wolf attacks.
– ‘Mind-boggling’ –
Relatives of Farook and Malik were at a loss to
explain how the couple, who had an infant girl
and seemed to be living a normal life, could have
committed mass murder.
I can never imagine my brother or my sister-in-
law doing something like this. Especially because
they were happily married, they had a beautiful
six-month-old daughter,” Farook’s sister Saira
Khan told CBS News.
It’s just mind-boggling why they would do
something like this.”
The family’s attorneys said while the couple were
devout Muslims, there was no hint they had
become radicalized.
Attorney Mohammad Abuershaid said few people
came in contact with Malik, who wore the full-
face veil and was described as soft-spoken and
shy.
The women (in the family) communicated with
her. Farook didn’t want anyone else to talk to
her,” he said, adding that the men in the family
had never seen Malik’s face.
He added that when Farook’s family members
came to visit, the women sat in one room and the
men in another.
Abuershaid said Farook had met Malik in 2013
through an online marriage site and had travelled
last year to marry her in Saudi Arabia, where she
lived.
One of Farook’s colleagues said he was convinced
Malik had radicalized her husband.
A US defense official, meanwhile, confirmed that
Farook’s brother was a decorated Navy veteran
who won medals for his service during America’s
“war on terror.”
Abuershaid and fellow attorney David Chesley
said Farook had apparently been teased by
colleagues at the county health department,
where he had worked as an inspector, over the
beard he grew.
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.
A home-made explosive that failed to detonate
was later found at the scene of the shooting.
– Reporters in apartment –
The landlord of the couple’s rented townhouse
on Friday opened their home up to reporters and
the public who flooded in, taking pictures and
videos in a surreal scene.
Toys, a baby crib, a prayer rug and documents
were scattered through the home where
investigators found thousands of rounds of
ammunition, as well as a makeshift bomb-making
laboratory and 12 pipe bombs.
Authorities identified the couple’s victims as six
women and eight men ranging in age from 26 to
60. All but two were county employees and
colleagues of Farook.
Trudy Raymundo, the director of the San
Bernardino health department, said she was
getting coffee when the shooting started and she
immediately hid under a table with a colleague.
It seemed like it went on forever,” she told CNN.
“And all I could think of is why doesn’t he stop?
Why, why, why does he keep shooting?”