TERROR PROBE IN SAN BERNARDINO MASSACRE

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By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Syed Rizwan Farook

December 4, 2015 (San Bernardino)—Evidence emerging in the mass shooting at a San Bernardino social services center yesterday  points to terrorism as the apparent motive. 

Syed Rizwan Farook, an American Muslim born in Chicago, and his Pakistani bride, Tashfeen Malik, dropped their baby off with a grandparent before donning assault gear and opening fire using assault weapons at an office holiday party. The barrage left 14 people dead and 21 injured.  Both suspects were later killed in a firefight with law enforcement after fleeing the scene in an SUV.  Malik pledged allegiance to ISIS, the Islamic State, on Facebook the very day of the attack, the New York Times reports, citing an unnamed official.  It is not yet known if the attack was directed by ISIS or if the terrorists acted independently, inspired by ISIS.

Officials suspect Farook became radicalized by Islamic extremists. He had had been in touch with at least one individual monitored as a possible terror suspect, a senior federal government official reportedly told the Los Angeles Times, adding that there could be a “deeper terror matrix” behind yesterday’s massacre. Authorities have not ruled out a workplace violence motivation potentially in combination with terrorism.

The couple also planted a trio of improvised explosive devices that failed to explode due to a faulty detonator, the Los Angeles Times reports.  Their Redlands home contained an armory with a dozen pipe bombs, and thousands of rounds of ammunition including assault rifle rounds and handgun ammo.

San Bernadino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan, in a news conference this morning, stated, “Certainly they were equipped and they could have continued to do another attack…We intercepted them.”

The attack on a “soft target” is consistent with the recent Islamic State (ISIS) strategy deployed in Paris, where orchestrated attacks were waged simultaneously at a stadium, theatre and restaurant instead of official government targets or symbols of authority.

Farook traveled to Saudi Arabia in 2013 for a Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca and again in July 2014 for a nine-day trip to bring home Malik, whose K-1 fiance visa was granted. Because of the short duration of the trips, Farook’s travels did not raise red flags with authorites.  Malik applied for lawful permanent residency last September and passed a background check by the FBI and Homeland Security, receiving her permanent residency green card in July 2015.

FBI and SWAT officers raided a Corona condominium and took a man into custody in handcuffs, also questioning  an imam at the mosque Farook attends. 

California has gun control laws that restrict sales of automatic weapons. The two semi-automatic pistols were reportedly purchased legally at a California gun store by Farook. The two high-powered rifles are believed to have been purchased by Farook’s former roommate and given to him, according to the Times.

Farook’s family members expressed shock at his actions.  A brother of Farook’s is a veteran who served in the U.S. military, The Hill reports.

Victims of the assault were nearly all employees of the state’s health department there for the holiday celebration.  Most were young and several leave children behind, including one father of six children.

The massacre has drawn strong reactions from presidential candidates.

“All of us are deeply concerned that this is yet another manifestation of terrorism, radical Islamic terrorism here at home,”  Republican Senator Ted Cruz said, speaking at a Jewish Republicans’ group today.

Democrat Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State, said tonight that “it’s becoming clearer that we are dealing with an act of terrorism,” CBS News reports.  Clinton said the San Bernardino shootings raises “serious questions” about how to protect Americans and assure that the U.S. has the best possible intelligence.

Clinton also voiced concern that “no parent should hae to worry about going to a holiday party after work or about sending their kids to school,” adding that the majority of Americans support “common sense steps to reduce and prevent gun violence.”  Clinton renewed her call for Congress to ban people on the federal no-fly list from owning guns, noting “If you are too dangerous to fly, you are too dangerous to buy a gun in America.”

Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, who is from California, laid fault at the administration’s doorstep, stating “The murder,, the mayhem that we see unfolding in Paris, in Beirut, [in] San Bernardino are a direct consequence of the administration’s policies.”

ECM readers also weighed in.  Julian resident Connie Frankowiak faulted the National Rifle Association for obstructing gun control legislation despite 355 mass shootings in the U.S. so far this year alone.   She wrote, "The most murderous terrorists in America are members of the NRA and are responsible for 35,000 American deaths every year and on going massacres all over the country every year. Every soulless degenerate member of the NRA  should be prosecuted for causing horrific terrorists acts for generations in America."

 

 

 


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