Barack Obama says California shootings could be ‘terrorist-related’ after pipe

But Obama said the shooters may have had “mixed motives” which could make the investigation more complicated, and warned it could take “some time” to reach conclusions.

The records obtained Thursday by The Associated Press show that Syed Farook’s mother, Rafia, described her husband in 2006 as “irresponsible, negligent and an alcoholic”.

The New York Post reported that Farook met his wife Tashfeen while on the haj in Saudi Arabia and appeared to have been radicalised, law enforcement officials found.

An FBI official said the couple came to the United States in July 2014 when they were not yet married. He did not elaborate.

Farook inspected restaurants, bakeries and public swimming pools for the county department.

And two government officials said no red flags were raised when he’d gone to Saudi Arabia for several weeks in 2013 on the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca that Muslims are required to take at least once in their lifetime.

The couple, who dropped off their baby daughter with Farook’s mother shortly before the rampage, were dressed in black 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 Center.

Investigators are trying to determine whether Farook became radicalized and, if so, how, and whether he was in contact with any foreign terrorist organization, said the US intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

“I have no idea why he would he do something like this”, Farook’s brother-in-law, Farhan Khan, told CNN.

Farook later returned with Malik and opened fire on the party-goers, police said.

Television news helicopters captured the aftermath, as officers slowly approached the mangled SUV.

“People shot. In the office waiting for cops”.

“He could have been radicalised, ready to go with some type of attack, and then had a dispute at work and chose to do something”. Nick Paez says they had to wait eight hours to see her as she underwent surgery and then went an intensive-care unit.

A former employee of the health department, Griselda Reisinger said: “He never struck me as a fanatic, he never struck me as suspicious”. “And that was it”. “We intercepted them before that happened obviously”.

“These are all disabled kids, very disabled”, said Sherry Esquerra, who was searching for her daughter and son-in-law, both of whom work at the center. “So I just don’t understand why somebody would come in and start shooting”.

To be clear, the FBI report does not include only mass shootings, so there were fewer than three deaths (three being the federal criteria for mass shooting designation) or no deaths in some of the 160 cases cited. It is a privately run nonprofit, the largest of its kind in California with about 670 employees. The FBI has taken over the investigation from local authorities.

A victim of the massacre is wheeled away on a stretcher.

– May 23, 2014: A community college student, Elliot Rodger, 22, killed six people and wounded 13 in shooting and stabbing attacks in the area near the University of California, Santa Barbara, campus. CEO Kerry Heinrich says two are in critical condition and three are in fair condition.

Police contend the attack was racially motivated. Public records show it may be the home of a Farook family member.

A fake bomb – a metal pipe stuffed with cloth – was thrown from the SUV during the chase, said Agent Meredith Davis of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

A third person who was spotted running near the gunbattle was detained, but Burguan said it was unclear if that person had anything to do with the crime.

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

According to the site Mass Shooting Tracker, the latest attack brings to 352 the number of mass shootings in the United States so far this year. “At this point in time we don’t know the motivation”.

When stopped by police, the two shooters had “on their person and in the vehicle immediately available to them” roughly 1400.223 caliber rounds, 200.9mm rounds, two 223 assault rifles and two 9mm pistols.