FBI: California mass shooting of 14 an “Act of Terror”

The FBI now suspects that last Wednesday’s mass shooting of 14 in California is an “act of terror.” While the Federal Bureau of Investigations has maintained a measure of cautious skepticism concerning the case of Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and his wife Tashfeen Malik, 29, a law enforcement official is quoted telling the L.A. Times that the couple might have held ties to two militant groups overseas, including the al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front in Syria. The husband and wife were killed in a shootout with law enforcement hours after the attack on the Inland Regional Center, a social services agency in San Bernardino, California.

Recent facts have emerged, including signs the couple had been planning the attack for some time while stockpiling two assault-style rifles, two semi-automatic handguns, 6,100 rounds of ammunition, and 12 pipe bombs in their home, influencing the FBI to treat the matter as an act of terrorism. “Based on the information and the facts as we know them, we are now investigating these horrific acts as an act of terrorism,” David Bowdich, assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Los Angeles office, told a recent press conference.

The wife, Tashfeen Malik, left a digital trail in the form of a Facebook account she had access to. The page in question is confirmed to have had several militant-praising posts, including one pledging allegiance to Da’esh leader Abu Bakr Baghdadi. Speaking to reporters in Washington, DC, FBI Director James Comey said the investigation was beginning to point to “radicalization of the killers and of potential inspiration by foreign terrorist organizations.” There is still no evidence, however, directly linking the two murders to any organized militant network or group, or to anyone else currently under FBI surveillance for suspected militant ties.

Recently, the murderous duo’s home was opened to the media by their landlord in the town of Redlands, California; the couple lived there with their 6-month-old daughter and the husband’s mother. On Wednesday, they left the infant in the care of its grandmother, claiming to have to go to a doctor’s appointment, according to representatives of the family.

The family of the husband held a news conference in which they described the two attackers as “isolated,” “soft spoken,” and “caring.” Malik, a Pakistani native who lived in Saudi Arabia for 20 years, was a housewife who spoke broken English and largely kept to herself. Farook was an inspector with the San Bernardino County Department of Environment Health born in Illinois to Pakistani immigrants. Neither of the two raised any red flags for investigative agencies, adding to the tension of the situation.

Muslim communities across the United States have begun to fear a potential backlash following the recent attack in California and the November 13 attacks in Paris, France, in which 130 people were killed; a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll showed 51 percent of Americans view Muslims living in the United States as similar to any other community, while 14.6 percent expressed a general fear of Muslim Americans.