President Obama used his weekly address Saturday to urge the country to work together to help prevent people from falling into “violent extremist ideologies” after Wednesday’s shooting rampage in San Bernardino that killed 14 people and wounded 21.
“It is entirely possible that these two attackers were radicalized to commit this act of terror. And if so, it would underscore a threat we’ve been focused on for years — the danger of people succumbing to violent extremist ideologies,” Obama said. “We know that ISIL and other terrorist groups are actively encouraging people — around the world and in our country — to commit terrible acts of violence, often times as lone wolf actors. And even as we work to prevent attacks, all of us — government, law enforcement, communities, faith leaders — need to work together to prevent people from falling victim to these hateful ideologies.”
The White House also announced that the president was briefed on the investigation today by his top security and law enforcement chiefs, who “highlighted several pieces of information that point to the perpetrators being radicalized to violence to commit these heinous attacks.”
“The President’s team also affirmed that they had as of yet uncovered no indication the killers were part of an organized group or formed part of a broader terrorist cell,” the White House statement continued.
The Joint Terrorism Task Force has now taken the lead in the investigation into the shooting at the Inland Regional Center, which FBI officials have said was likely an “act of terrorism.”
The Wednesday attack, was planned and carried out by Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Malik, 27, who had been married two years and had a 6-month- old daughter.
One day after the FBI announcement, an Islamic State online radio broadcast confirmed that Farook and Malik were supporters of the terrorist group.
“Two followers of Islamic State attacked several days ago a center in San Bernardino,” media reports quoted the group from the broadcast. The group did not directly take credit for the attack, but praised Farook and Malik as “martyrs.”
The couple was killed in a gun battle with police roughly seven hours after the initial shooting at the Inland Regional Center, which provides treatment for people with developmental disabilities.
Investigators had been reluctant to classify the shootings as terrorist related because they occurred during a holiday gathering at Farook’s workplace, and there were reports he left amid a dispute with a co-worker before returning with his wife and multiple weapons.
But on Friday, local FBI officials finally made the connection.
“We are now investigating these horrific acts as an act of terrorism,” David Bowdich, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said at a news conference in San Bernardino.
Bowdich declined to provide specifics, but confirmed he was aware of a Facebook post made by one of the suspects pledging allegiance to the ISIS terrorist group around the time of Wednesday’s shooting.
He said “there’s a number of pieces of evidence that have pushed us off the cliff” to proclaim the investigation to be a terrorism probe.
The FBI was initially in charge of the investigation and officials said federal authorities will continue to work in “lockstep” with local law enforcement on what is expected to be a lengthy probe. Also on Friday, authorities finally pulled the rented SUV off the street where the couple were killed and into a secured storage area. And, reporters gained access to the Redlands townhouse where the couple lived, assembled bombs in a rear garage and amassed a large cache of weapons and ammunition. And investigators found evidence the two deleted their social media accounts and destroyed their mobile phones the day before the shootings.. But family members, in various interviews and through a family attorney, said they had not seen any evidence the U.S. born Farook, or his Pakistani wife, had been “radicalized.”
“None of the family members had any idea that this was going to take place,” attorney David Chesley said during a Friday news conference. They were “totally shocked” by what happened.
On Wednesday morning, Farook left the couple’s infant daughter with his mother, claiming he was taking his wife to a doctor’s visit and didn’t want to bring the baby along, according to Hussam Ayloush, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Los Angeles (CAIR-LA) .
Farook was a five-year employee of the San Bernardino County public health agency, which was holding a holiday party when the shooting erupted.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Farook traveled to Saudi Arabia last year and spent nine days there before returning with a new wife he met online.
The Times and other media outlets, citing a senior government official who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Farook was in contact with a number of extremists and at least one person being monitored by federal officials, a Pakistani named Roshan Zamir Abbassi, who is an assistant Imam in San Bernardino, where Farook worshipped.
However, Abassi told The Times he barely knew Farook and only exchanged occasional hellos and goodbyes.
Law enforcement sources told NBC News that Malik pledged allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a statement on Facebook just before she and her husband carried out Wednesday’s rampage. Investigators are reported to be looking into whether the Pakistan-born Malik radicalized her husband.
At a Thursday morning news conference, David Bowdich of the FBI said Malik came to the United States with the U.S-born Farook in July 2014 on a work visa and had a Pakistani passport. The couple married after arriving in the U.S., which enabled her to gain legal permanent resident status last year.
The attack has brought new attention to the previously obscure K1 visa program, which is reserved for the fiances of U.S. citizens. Some advocates for stricter immigration enforcement are calling for investigations into the nation’s visa screening process and for a halt to the nation’s Syrian refugee program.
“New information coming to light regarding Tashfeen Malik’s citizenship reaffirms the fact that proper screening and vetting those coming into our country, whether with a visa or as a refugee, is not always possible,” Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which advocates for stricter immigration laws, said in remarks quoted by The Times. The K1 visa permits the foreign-citizen fiance of a U.S. citizen to travel to the U.S. and marry his or her sponsor within 90 days of arrival. It is one of dozens of visas that allow foreigners to enter the U.S.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said K1 applicants, like other visa applicants, undergo an extensive counterterrorism screening that includes checks based on fingerprints and facial recognition software.
Meanwhile, the FBI has established a nationwide toll free line for tips regarding the massacre. It’s (800) CALL-FBI (Option 4) or (800) 225-5324 Option 4.
Killed in Wednesday’s shooting were Robert Adams of Yucaipa, 40; Isaac Amanios of Fontana, 60; Bennetta Bet-Badal of Rialto, 46; Harry Bowman of Upland, 46; Sierra Clayborn of Moreno Valley, 27; Juan Espinoza of Highland, 50; Aurora Godoy of San Jacinto, 26; Shannon Johnson of Los Angeles, 45; Larry Kaufman of Rialto, 42; Damian Meins of Riverside, 37; Tin Nguyen of Santa Ana, 31; Nicholas Thalasinos of Colton, 52; Yvette Velasco of Fontana, 27; and Michael Wetzel of Lake Arrowhead, 37.
Meins and Clayborn were graduates of UC Riverside, where more than 400 people gathered Friday evening for a candlelight vigil honoring those killed or injured in the rampage.
Another candlelight vigil is planned for this evening in the Los Angeles area. Dubbed “United We Stand,” the event is set for 6 to 8 p.m. at Granada Hills Charter High School at 10535 Zelzah Ave. in the San Fernando Valley. It will be co-hosted by Devonshire Area in Partnership and Muslim Youth Los Angeles.
“(This vigil will) provide community members with the opportunity to stand together and remember the victims of the San Bernardino shooting incident,” organizers said in a prepared statement. “We will also pray to show support for the survivors who are recovering from their injuries.”
In Rancho Cucamonga, the Islamic Center of Inland Empire will hold an “interfaith solidarity meeting” tonight in remembrance of the victims. The meeting will be held from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Islamic Center, located at 9212 Baseline Road.
The public is invited to attend the event, which is being held “to express our solidarity, compassion and support for the victims’ families.”
ICIE condemned Wednesday’s shooting in a statement on its website, quoting the Quran. The statement read, “Whoever has killed an innocent person, it is as if he killed all of humanity” (Quran 5:32).
ICIE, which opened in 2008, serves the Muslim community of Rancho Cucamonga, as well as those in the surrounding cities of the Inland Empire.
— City News Service