San Bernardino shooting: FBI expresses caution on terrorism link; pipe bombs and ammo found in shooters' home

Updated

The FBI says it is too soon to say what led a young couple to kill 14 people at a Christmas party in California, with federal agents saying it is premature to label the attack terrorism.

Key points: Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik opened fire on Christmas party, killing 14, injuring 21

FBI says it is premature to label attack terrorism

Pipe bomb-like devices and thousands of rounds of ammunition found at couple's home

Farook left party after apparent dispute, then returned with Malik

"A degree of planning" went into attack, police chief says

Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Malik, 27, who had a six-month-old daughter together, were killed in a shootout with police after the massacre at the Inland Regional Centre social services agency in the city of San Bernardino.

"We cannot rule anything out at this point," said David Bowdich, the FBI's assistant director in Los Angeles.

"There was obviously a mission here. We know that. We do not know why.

"It would be irresponsible of me to call this terrorism. The FBI defines terrorism very specifically.

"That is the big question for us, is what is the motivation for this."

Police said a raid of a townhouse believed to have been used by the couple yielded flash drives, computers and mobile phones that would be checked to see if they had been browsing on jihadist websites or social media.

Twelve pipe bomb-like devices and thousands of rounds of ammunition were found at the home.

"Rest assured that we will get to the bottom of this," US president Barack Obama said.

"It is possible that this was terrorist-related, but we don't know.

"It is also possible that this was workplace-related."

San Bernardino police chief Jarrod Burguan said the attack may have been an act of terrorism, but a motive had not yet been determined.

He also said 21 people were wounded, four more than previously stated.

Ten people remained hospitalised at two local hospitals — two in critical but stable condition, three in fair condition and five in stable condition, the hospitals said.

A man who was detained by police at the scene of a street shootout following the massacre was later released after police determined he was not a suspect, the Los Angeles Times reported.

'Some degree of planning'

Farook had worked for the San Bernardino county health department for five years and neither he nor his wife were known to law enforcement.

The couple, who dropped off their baby daughter with Farook's mother shortly before the rampage, were dressed in military-style gear and carried assault weapons and semi-automatic handguns as they burst into an auditorium rented out for the holiday party at Inland Regional Centre.

Mr Burguan said Farook had attended the party, organised by the health department, and left after an apparent dispute, only to return a short time later with Malik.

He said Farook and his wife had fired between 65 and 75 rounds during the attack at a social services centre that entailed "a degree of planning".

Explosives rigged to a remote-controlled car were also found at the scene of the carnage, but the device failed to go off, he said.

He said 1,600 rounds of ammunition were found on the couple and in their car following the police shootout in which they died.

About 5,000 additional rounds, 12 pipe bomb-type explosive devices and bomb-making material were found at the home the couple shared.

"Nobody just gets upset at a party, goes home and puts together that kind of elaborate scheme," Mr Burguan said.

"There was some planning that went into this."

Farook's brother-in-law, Farhan Khan, said he had no clue what prompted the carnage.

"I am in shock that something like this could happen," he said.

Farook, Malik 'living the American dream'

Local media quoted one of Farook's co-workers as saying he had travelled to Saudi Arabia where he met his Pakistani-born wife.

The couple appeared to be "living the American dream," Patrick Baccari, a fellow inspector who shared a cubicle with Farook and who survived the carnage, said.

Mr Baccari and other co-workers told the Los Angeles Times that Farook was a devout Muslim who kept to himself and rarely discussed religion at work.

"He never struck me as a fanatic, he never struck me as suspicious," Griselda Reisinger, who worked with Farook until changing jobs in May, told the Times.

Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Los Angeles, said the couple had been married for two years and "had a good life".

"We don't know the motive yet," he told NPR news.

"This could be a workplace rage, this could be a result of some of instability, mental instability, or it could [be] some twisted ideological belief."

AFP/Reuters

Topics: crime, terrorism, united-states

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