Around 3:30 p.m., the New York Times posted a breaking news alert on its website announcing that San Bernardino killers Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik had been “radicalized.” It has been reported by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Monday that both attackers in the deadly attack in San Bernardino, Calif., which claimed the lives of 14 people last week, had been radicalized for a long time and they had been practicing their aim at a target range just days prior to their murder spree.
“We believe that both subjects were radicalized and for quite some time,” said David Bowdich, the FBI assistant director in charge at a news conference.
So far, authorities have evidence that Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and his spouse, Tashfeen Malik, 29, had been seriously involved in firearms target practice near their Southern California home within days of last week’s deadly shooting rampage.
According to the FBI, Farook, an environmental health inspector for the county, and Malik opened fire with assault-style rifles on a holiday gathering of his colleagues. The couple died in a shootout with police several hours after the attack on Wednesday morning in a conference room at the Inland Regional Center social services agency in San Bernardino, about 60 miles (100 km) east of Los Angeles.
In addition to five firearms recovered by investigators, authorities also have seized thousands of rounds of ammunition gathered by the couple, along with explosives and other materials for making as many as 19 pipe bombs, the FBI said.
Other than the 14 killed, 21 people have been injured. At least six people remain hospitalized, two in critical condition. President Barack Obama said in a prime-time address Sunday that the attack was an “act of terrorism designed to kill innocent people.” He said that the two killers had “gone down the dark path of radicalization,” however, there was no evidence they were part of a larger conspiracy or were directed by an overseas terror organization.
“We will get to the bottom of this,” said David Bowdich, assistant director at the FBI’s Los Angeles bureau. “We want to find out everyone who participated in the pre-planning, if there was anyone else.” “We don’t know everything yet,” he said, adding, “But we will leave no stone unturned.”
Malik’s brother, speaking to the Journal from Riyadh, where her family is based, said: “We are in shock. We don’t know what happened to our life.” Moreover, Farook’s father, also named Syed Farook, told La Stampa, the Italian newspaper, that his son was “fixated” on Israel and supported ISIS’s ideology.
Officials caution there is still a lot to learn and a plethora of electronic media to review. Part of what is slowing the process down is that the couple’s attempts to destroy their electronics made it challenging for investigators to use the material. “They covered their tracks pretty well,” the officials said. Meanwhile, most of the county’s 20,000 employees went back to work for the first time since the rampage five days earlier plunged the community into shock and mourning.
Be the first to comment on "San Bernardino shooters were radicalized ‘for quite some time,’ FBI says"