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San Bernardino shooter pledged allegiance to Isis, reports say FBI investigating San Bernardino shooting as an act of terrorism
(about 3 hours later)
One of the two people accused of killing 14 at a holiday party in California apparently pledged allegiance to a leader of Islamic State militant group, according to numerous reports on Friday. The FBI is investigating the San Bernardino shooting as an act of terrorism, it confirmed on Friday, giving the atrocity a national security dimension and renewed political urgency.
Related: San Bernardino shooting: suspect supported Isis, reports say – latest updates “As of today, based on the information and the facts that we know … we are now investigating these horrific acts as an act of terrorism,” FBI assistant director David Bowdich told a press conference.
Reuters, the Associated Press, CNN and the New York Times all reported that Tashfeen Malik pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and the terror group’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on Facebook, with some saying she used an alias and then deleted the messages before the attack. The media organizations citied unnamed US law enforcement or government sources. The move comes after reports claimed the woman accused of helping to slaughter 14 people in a gun massacre in California pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (Isis).
CNN reported that one US official said Malik had pledged allegiance to Baghdadi on Wednesday, the day of the attack. Related: San Bernardino shooting: FBI to brief press on suspects – latest updates
Malik, 27, and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, were killed in a shootout with police hours after the Wednesday massacre at the Inland Regional Center social services agency in San Bernardino, about 60 miles (100km) east of Los Angeles. The attack was the deadliest mass shooting the United States has experienced in three years. Tashfeen Malik, 27, swore fealty to the terror group in a Facebook post on Wednesday, the same day she and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, committed the rampage, US officials said on Friday, according to numerous media reports.
US investigators are evaluating evidence that Malik, a Pakistani native who had been living in Saudi Arabia when she married Farook, had pledged allegiance to Baghdadi, two US officials told Reuters. They said the finding, if confirmed, could be a “game changer” in the investigation. A Facebook executive said Malik’s online post was made as the attacks began, the Associated Press reported.
The investigation has been focused on the motivation for the attack, with officials including Barack Obama and San Bernardino police chief Jarrod Burguan saying it may have been motivated by extremist ideology. Law enforcement officials who briefed media organisations about the revelation said it could be a “game changer” in the investigation. It is likely to shift political debate over the massacre – the worst mass shooting in the US in three years – from gun control to terrorism, immigration and radical Islam.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the 13 November coordinated shooting and bombing attacks in Paris that killed 130 people and injured hundreds. The group has called on its supporters around the world to strike targets in the west. The officials said the couple appeared to have been “self-radicalised and inspired” rather than directed by Isis.
Malik and Farook left behind a six-month-old daughter. Farook’s brother-in-law, Farhan Khan, told NBC News he had begun legal proceedings to adopt the girl and was “very upset and angry” at Farook. White House National Security Council sources would not comment on the claim that the female attacker had pledged herself to Isis in a Facebook post. An FBI source said: “As this remains an ongoing investigation, we are unable to provide additional information at this time.” The White House spokesman, Josh Earnest, also declined to confirm the claim.
“You left your six-month-old daughter,” Khan said. “In this life some people cannot have kids. God gave you a gift of a daughter. And you left that kid behind ... What did you achieve?” Barack Obama summoned the attorney general, FBI director and other top security officials to discuss the investigation, Earnest told reporters. “At this point it’s far too early to reach that kind of conclusion,” he said, referring to whether the attack could be called terrorism. Earnest said it was difficult to disrupt so-called lone wolf attacks but that the US’s record of doing so was good.
Twenty-one people were wounded in the attack, the worst gun violence in the nation since the December 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. Malik, who was Pakistani, and Farook, 28, an Illinois-born US citizen and the son of Pakistani immigrants, died in a shootout with police hours after killing 14 people and wounding 21 in the Inland Regional Center social services agency in San Bernardino, about 60 miles (100km) east of Los Angeles. Most of the victims were Farook’s colleagues.
Farook, a US citizen born in Illinois, was the son of Pakistani immigrants, said Hussam Ayloush, head of the Los Angeles area chapter of the Muslim advocacy group Council on American-Islamic Relations. Citing law enforcement officials and government sources, Reuters, the Associated Press, CNN and the New York Times reported that Malik pledged allegiance to the Isis leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, on Facebook. CNN’s sources said she made the posts while the attack was happening. Other accounts said she used an alias and deleted the messages before the attack.
The officials said investigators were still looking into additional motives, including possible workplace tensions over religion.
Farook, described by relatives and colleagues as a quiet, reserved and devout Muslim, was a county environmental health inspector. He had been attending a day-long training session, with a holiday-themed luncheon, before leaving mid-morning and returning with Malik. Both wore masks and combat-style black clothing and wielded assault rifles, according to witnesses.
One of the dead was Nicholas Thalasinos, a Jewish colleague with outspoken views, and blog postings, about Islam and jihadis. He reportedly had a heated argument with Farook about two weeks before the massacre. There are unconfirmed reports that Farook may have been involved in another argument shortly before leaving the gathering.
The couple appeared to have prepared for a dramatic, bloody confrontation: they stockpiled pipe bombs and thousands of rounds of ammunition at home and several days before the attack deleted their electronic information, according to the officials who briefed the media.
Several days earlier they also rented a black SUV, used in their dramatic final gun battle with police. Before heading to the Inland Regional Center they left their six-month-old daughter with Farook’s mother, saying they had a medical appointment.
‘I think he married a terrorist’
Malik’s alleged oath to Isis intensified scrutiny on her role and background.
She was born in Pakistan and traveled on a Pakistani passport, and recently lived in Saudi Arabia. She apparently met Farook online – he posted profiles on Muslim dating websites – and met in person when he travelled to Saudi Arabia last year.
They came to the US together in July 2014, David Bowdich, of the FBI’s Los Angeles office, told a news conference. Malik traveled with K-1 visa, which lets people enter the US to marry an American citizen.
Christian Nwadike, who worked with Farook for five years, told CBS that his co-worker had been different since he returned from Saudi Arabia. “I think he married a terrorist,” Nwadike said.Christian Nwadike, who worked with Farook for five years, told CBS that his co-worker had been different since he returned from Saudi Arabia. “I think he married a terrorist,” Nwadike said.
Investigators are reviewing the couples’ computers and cellphones to see if they had browsed jihadist websites or had contact with militant groups, according to officials in Washington familiar with the investigation. The alleged Isis connection will tilt political debate over the massacre from gun control to immigration, radical Islam and national security, potentially boosting Donald Trump, Ben Carson and other Republican presidential contenders who have focused on those issues.
Police said the couple had two assault-style rifles, two semi-automatic handguns and 1,600 rounds of ammunition in their vehicle, with 12 pipe bombs found in their home. Obama said the attack may have been motivated by a mix of reasons, including extremist ideology.
On Friday a lawyer for the couple’s family said that many aspects of the tragic events “do not add up”. On Friday, David Chelsey, a lawyer for Farook and Malik’s family, said many details “do not add up”.
Officials have reported that the couple wiped material from their electronic devices and smashed computer parts at least a day before Wednesday’s mass shooting. “There are a lot of disconnects and there are a lot of unknowns and there are a lot of things that quite frankly don’t add up, or seem implausible,” he told CNN.
“There are a lot of disconnects and there are a lot of unknowns and there are a lot of things that quite frankly don’t add up, or seem implausible,” attorney David Chelsey told CNN on Friday morning.
In contrast to various accounts that Farook and Malik were quiet and unassuming, officials revealed that they believe they were armed with powerful, combat-style rifles, dressed in assault gear, and their home was a stockpile of ammunition and homemade pipe bombs.
Chelsey indicated that such details appeared out of character with the couple many people were familiar with, and there had been no signs that they were harboring an arsenal of weaponry or planning an attack.
“It doesn’t make sense. No one has ever seen Syed with any of the things – with some of the things found on the scene, they’ve never seen them with him. The pipe bombs, for example. No one had ever seen him use or have anything like that,” he said.“It doesn’t make sense. No one has ever seen Syed with any of the things – with some of the things found on the scene, they’ve never seen them with him. The pipe bombs, for example. No one had ever seen him use or have anything like that,” he said.
The couple were shot dead on Wednesday evening after they fled law enforcement, with the rented black SUV they had driven to the scene of the shooting and then were later pursued in by armed officials riddled with police bullets. He pointed out that Malik was lightweight and claimed she did not take part in the killing. “She was never involved in shooting. She’s probably 90lb, so it’s unlikely she could even carry a weapon or wear some sort of a vest or do any of this,” Chelsey said.
But Chelsey insisted: “It just doesn’t make sense, for these two to be able to act like some kind of Bonnie and Clyde or something.” Farhan Khan, who is married to one of Farook’s sisters, told NBC News he had begun legal proceedings to adopt the couple’s daughter. He lashed out at his late brother-in-law. “You left your six-month-old daughter,” Khan said. “In this life some people cannot have kids. God gave you a gift of a daughter. And you left that kid behind … What did you achieve?”
He said that the couple would have lacked know-how around such powerful weapons and Malik was too slight to be able to operate a semi-automatic assault rifle of the kind officials say was used in the shooting, together with the weight of a protective vest and ammunition. Candlelit vigils drew thousands of people, including Muslim, Christian and other faith leaders, across San Bernardino on Thursday night.
“It doesn’t add up – the military skills to carry out something like this, really, frankly. It doesn’t make sense. If somebody had military training or something, yes, but here was none of that and this person was not aggressive,” he said, referring to Farook. On Friday, some streets that had been sealed off were reopened, restoring a semblance of normality to a city still coming to terms with its loss. The dead victims, five women and nine men, ranged in age from 26 to 60. They included a father of six, a coffee shop owner, a physical education teacher, a health inspector who followed his love to California, a mother who fled Iran to start a new life, and the cousin of a New York Giants player.
He pointed out that Malik herself was lightweight and claimed she did not take part in the killing. The loss of life was the country’s worst since the December 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut.
“She was never involved in shooting. She’s probably 90lbs, so it’s unlikely she could even carry a weapon or wear some sort of a vest or do any of this,” Chelsey said. Thirteen of the dead worked for the county health department, said a spokeswoman, Felisa Cardona. “It’s an unspeakable tragedy of this magnitude. It’s just devastating to fellow employees and it’s devastating to the community.”
Chelsey said that he and family members have already talked to the authorities. After police vacated Malik and Farook’s home it briefly became a media circus when journalists entered and rifled through it, inspecting ID documents, baby books, a crib and other items before being ushered out by the landlord. He then boarded up the property.
“We sat with the FBI for three hours and they tried to identify some of the characteristics or some affiliations that he [Farook] might have had, or could have led to him acting this way and they couldn’t find anything. They were totally stumped, totally frustrated,” he said.
Publicly, the FBI continues to reserve judgement.
David Bowdich, the assistant director at the FBI’s Los Angeles office, which is leading the investigation, said on Thursday: “We don’t know the motive. We cannot rule anything out at this point. We don’t know if this was the intended target or there was something that triggered him to do this immediately.”
He continued: “It would be irresponsible and premature for me to call this terrorism. The FBI defines terrorism very specifically and that is the big question for us: What is the motivation for this?”
Reports have claimed investigators retrieved and have been scrutinizing electronic devices belonging to Farook and Malik and found that at least a day before the attacks he began deleting data, suggesting a possible level of planning of the attack.
Mobile phones, computer hard drives, and “virtually anything with digital memory” belonging to the couple had been smashed when investigators found them, ABC reported.
FBI analysts will now attempt to repair the equipment and harvest any material from them, if possible.
Details also began to emerge of the attack itself. Patrick Baccari was drying his hands with paper towel in a bathroom when the dispenser seemed to explode and he was peppered with shrapnel.
The attackers had entered the building and bullets were flying through the walls as he heard shots outside the door and told others in the men’s room to get down and brace against the door with their feet, he told ABC.
Baccari shared an office cubicle with Syed Farook and said that although the man was reserved, he considered him a friend.
But he noticed when staff grouped for a photo at the gathering on Wednesday that Farook, who had been there earlier, was absent. “He wasn’t there for the Christmas photo,” he said.
Baccari then described how bullets “came bursting through the towel dispenser”.
“I looked in the mirror and I could see blood here, here and here,” he said, indicated areas on his face and neck.
“I told the other people in the rest room – we are under attack,” he said.
Reuters contributed to this report.