Police identify married couple as California shooters, seek motive
Local Muslim man Syed Rizwan Farook, and Saudi-born wife Tashfeen Malik, killed in shootout with cops after gunning down at least 14 in LA suburb; terrorism not ruled out
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Police on Wednesday identified the two suspects, a local Muslim man and a Saudi-born woman, who died in an exchange of fire with police following a mass shooting that killed 14 people in California.
San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said police no longer believed a third suspect was at large: “We’re pretty comfortable that the two shooters that went into the building are the two shooters deceased on San Bernardino Avenue.”
“The first one is Syed, Rizwan, last name Farook. He is 28 years old. I am told that he is US-born,” Burguan told a news conference. “The person that was with him is a female. Her name is Tashfeen, last name Malik. She is 27 years old.”
A family member told the LA Times that Malik was Farook’s wife. Co-worker Patrick Baccari told the paper that Farook traveled to Saudi Arabia and returned married to Malik, whom he met online. The two had a child and appeared to be “living the American dream.”
Burguan said Farook was a county employee who has worked for five years as an environmental specialist in the public health department.
The heavily armed shooters targeted a year-end party taking place at a social services building in San Bernardino, about an hour’s drive east of Los Angeles.
Police have been investigating reports the shooting might be linked to a disgruntled employee who left the party following a dispute.
Burguan confirmed that Farook was present at the event.
“He did leave the party early under some circumstances that were described as angry or something of that nature.”
But the police chief said he did not believe this was a crime committed in the heat of the moment.
“Based upon what we have seen and based upon how they were equipped, there had to be some degree of planning that went into this,” he said.
Police said they destroyed three explosive devices, which were described as “leaning a little bit more toward a pipe bomb-type design.”
“So I don’t think that he just ran home, put on these types of tactical clothes, grabbed guns and came back on a spur of the moment thing.”
The Times of Israel Community.