FBI searches for motive in San Bernardino

rampage as Obama says it is possible it was

terrorism

Object 1

By Martha Groves and Mark Berman-December 3

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. Federal authorities on Thursday took over the
investigation into the deadliest U.S. mass shooting since the Sandy Hook massacre
three years ago, as officials sought a motive behind the violent rampage here that
killed 14 people and injured 21 others.
Police said Thursday that they had found 12 pipe bombs and thousands of rounds of
ammunition at the home of the suspects, in addition to the scores of rounds they had
on them when they were killed in a shootout with police. They also said the number of
people injured in the attack had risen from 17, the previously known tally.
We still dont have a motive, San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said at a
news conference Thursday.
The FBI has taken over the investigation into the shootings, President Obama said
during remarks earlier Thursday.
At this stage, we do not yet know why this terrible event occurred, Obama said
during remarks at the White House. He added: It is possible this was terrorist-related,
but we dont know. It is also possible this was workplace related.
Obama said that the two suspects in the attack had additional weapons at their home
in addition to the firearms used in the assault, but we dont know why they did it, he

said. We dont know at this point the extent of their plans.

Police said the two shooters were a married couple: Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, a
former county health worker born in the United States, and Tashfeen Malik, 27, a
woman described as his Pakistani-born wife. Even as the bloodshed made it among
the deadliest mass shootings in recent memory, the attack was also a rarity in another
way: Mass shootings are rarely carried out by more than one attacker, and women
almost never carry out such assaults.

Object 2

After the mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., on Wednesday that left 14 people
dead, details are starting to emerge about the shooting suspects. Here's what we
know about Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik. (The Washington Post)
They came prepared to do what they did, as if they were on a mission, Burguan had
after Wednesdays attack and a police shootout that left two alleged shooters dead
several miles from the attack.
Police and other local law enforcement had been joined by federal officials from the
FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as authorities probed
the bloodshed.
The ATF said it recovered two rifles and two handguns and was conducting urgent
traces on their origins. All four weapons were legally purchased, and two of them
were traced back to one the suspects, said Dannette Seward, a spokeswoman for the
ATF. The other two were traced to another person, and that is still being investigated,
she said.
Whatever the results of this investigationone thing is clear: Violence like this has no
place in this country, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said at a White House event
earlier on Thursday.
[The striking difference between the San Bernardino suspects and other mass
shooters]
The attack came just five days after police say a gunman in Colorado Springs killed

three people and injured nine others, the latest in a recent run of mass shootings that
terrorized a community college in Roseburg, Ore., a church in Charleston, S.C., and a
movie theater in Lafayette, La.
Anxiety also lingers from the recent terrorist attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.
The Islamic State, a violent militant group that controls parts of Syria and Iraq, claimed
responsibility for that attack which triggered a crackdown on migrants in Europe and
calls for heightened security in the United States.
An FBI official speaking hours after the San Bernardino shooting said authorities could
not rule out terrorism as a possible motivation.
One of the big questions that will come up repeatedly is: Is this terrorism? said
David Bowdich, assistant director in charge of the FBIs Los Angeles office. It is a
possibility. We are making some adjustments to our investigation. It is a possibility. But
we dont know that yet. And we are not willing to go down that road yet.
The attack occurred at the Inland Regional Center, a three-building complex that
houses a conference center and serves more than 30,000 people with developmental
disabilities. The gunfire cut through the county public health departments holiday
party, which was being in the conference centers first-floor banquet room.
Police say at least two attackers stormed the center wearing wearing black masks and
armed with assault rifles and handguns.
Earlier in the day, the suspects dropped off their 6-month-old daughter with Farooks
mother, saying they had a doctors appointment, said Hussam Ayloush, executive
director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Los Angeles.
Later, Farook attended the office party hosted by the San Bernardino County
Department of Public Health, where he had worked as an inspector, earning more than
$71,000 in salary and benefits in 2013. Farook then left the gathering under
circumstances described as angry or something of that nature, said Burguan, the
police chief.
[Hours before San Bernardino shooting, doctors urged Congress to lift funding ban on
gun violence research]
Police said Farook then returned with Malik and the pair opened fire on the crowd
before fleeing in a black SUV, which was later spotted about two miles from the
shooting site with the area under near-total lockdown. Some unconfirmed reports
quoted police saying the attackers also were outfitted with body cameras.
A shootout with police left both suspects dead and the vehicle peppered with bullet
holes and with its windows shattered.
I dont think they grabbed the guns and tactical gear on a spur-of-the-moment thing,
Burguan said.
Muslim community leader Ayloush described Malik as a Pakistani-born immigrant who
lived in Saudi Arabia before marrying Farook. Two FBI officials told The Washington

Post that Farook was not under FBI investigation. Its not clear whether he had links to
any other people under FBI investigation.
[The other mass shooting that happened Wednesday in the United States]
A third person seen fleeing the shootout was also taken into custody, but it remained
unclear whether there was any link to the suspect.
Right now, as we continue to drill down our information, it looks like we have two
shooters, Burguan said. We are comfortable that the two shooters that went into the
building are the two shooters that are deceased.
But many other questions loomed. Among them was whether the attack was preplanned and why the suspects amassed assault-style gear and arms in a tidy
residential neighborhood about 50 miles east of Los Angeles where the couple was
often seen relaxing in their back yard.
Burguan declined to comment on what may have precipitated the attack. But, he said,
the couple seemed too well-prepared for the shooting to be viewed as a spontaneous
act. He added: We have not ruled out terrorism.
I have no idea why he would do something like this, Farhan Khan, who is married to
Farooks sister, said at a news conference. I cannot express how sad I am today.
[It is incredibly rare for there to be multiple mass shooters or for them to be women]
The two left behind little in the way of a paper trail no apparent criminal record, no
Facebook page or Twitter account. Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, co-workers
who knew Farook described him as a quiet and polite man who held no obvious
grudges against people in the office. They said he recently traveled to Saudi Arabia
and returned with a woman he met online.
The officer had recently held a shower for the couples new baby, and the two seemed
to be living the American dream, said Patrick Baccari, a fellow inspector who shared
a cubicle with Farook.
Griselda Reisinger, who worked with Farook before leaving the agency in May, and
other colleagues told the Los Angeles Times that Farook was a devout Muslim but not
vocal about his religion.
[The inspiring work done at the disability center]
The Inland Regional Center held its own holiday party Tuesday, and a brief video clip
showed staffers and clients in wheelchairs dancing to the 1980 mega-hit Celebration
by Kool & the Gang.
On Wednesday, the citys public health department had rented out the conference
centers first-floor banquet room for a holiday party, complete with Christmas trees and
other decorations. The event was in full swing when the first reports of gunfire came,
at 10:59 a.m.

Melinda Rivas, a social worker who works at the center, heard a woman down the hall
shouting: Theres a shooting! Rivas and coworkers barricaded themselves in a
conference room.
She called her two adult children: Theres a shooting going on. Be safe, she told
them. Finally, a SWAT team evacuated those hiding, telling them to keep their hands
raised as they walked out of the building. Rivas texted her children, with relief this
time: Im safe.
She recalled leaving the building to the sight of people in panic, yelling and screaming,
with clothing and emergency equipment strewn about.
It was almost like a bloody warpath, she said. . . . This is one of those things Ive
often seen on the news, and now I was a part of it.
The San Bernardino massacre follows a series of mass shootings just in the past six
months. They include attacks on a historically black church in Charleston, S.C.; at a
military recruitment center in Chattanooga, Tenn.; in a movie theater in Lafayette, La.;
at a community college in Oregon; and just last week at a Planned Parenthood facility
in Colorado Springs.
The latest violence was the deadliest mass shooting since 26 people, including 20
children, were killed by a lone gunman at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in
Newtown, Conn.

Groves is a freelance writer. Berman reported from

Washington. Freelance writer William Dauber in San Bernardino and staff writers Joel
Achenbach, Brian Murphy, Adam Goldman, Lindsey Bever, Niraj Chokshi, Ann
Gerhart, Sari Horwitz, Elahe Izadi, Wesley Lowery, Kevin Sullivan, Julie Tate, Justin

Wm. Moyer, Yanan Wang, Sarah Kaplan and Alice Crites in Washington contributed to
this report.
[This story has been updated. First published: 11:30 a.m.]

Mark Berman is a reporter on the National staff. He runs Post Nation, a destination for
breaking news and stories from around the country.
Posted by Thavam