California massacre female shooter pledged allegiance to Islamic State

The FBI have confirmed that the San Bernardino shooting, which killed 14 people and injured 21, was an “act of terrorism” after concluding there was “extensive planning” involved with the attack.

Still in mourning, Khan and her husband Farhan Khan were visibly shaken by news that their sister-in-law Tashfeen Malik reportedly pledged her allegiance to ISIS shortly before the attack.

Flowers, candles and notes of mourning for victims are placed near the site of mass shooting in San Bernardino City, the United States, Dec. 4, 2015.

Malik posted a message of allegiance to ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on Facebook on the day of the shooting, anonymous law enforcement officials told CNN and the New York Times.

“We are now investigating this as an act of terrorism”, Assistant FBI Director David Bowdich announced Friday.

But that characterization is at odds with both the heinous act that Malik and her husband, Syed Farook, carried out at San Bernardino’s Inland Regional Center and with her embrace of traditional Islamic values.

The family’s lawyers said Farook and Malik, who lived in a townhouse with their baby daughter and Farook’s mother, were quiet and kept to themselves.

“We are keeping our minds open”, Comey said at a news conference. She also expressed concern about the six-month-old child her brother and sister-in-law left orphaned after their deaths.

Ms. Malik was born in Pakistan and moved to Saudi Arabia before her engagement to Syed Rizwan Farook.

Pakistani intelligence officials have contacted Malik’s family in her homeland as part of the investigation, a family member said.

Bowdich said no other suspects are in custody, but “it is possible there may be some in the future”.

Federal Bureau of Investigation officials said mounting signs of advanced preparations, the large cache of armaments amassed by the couple and evidence that they “attempted to destroy their digital fingerprints” helped tip the balance of the investigation.

Christian Nwadike, who worked with Farook for five years, told CBS that his co-worker had been different since he returned from Saudi Arabia.

The Muslim couple were killed hours later in a fierce gunbattle with police.

At the home agents discovered almost 5,000 rounds of ammunition, a dozen pipe bombs and hundreds of tools for making improvised explosive devices at the property. The officials did not explain how they knew Malik made the post.

Chesley added that engaging with Internet content about radical Islam is not enough to prove that his client was a terrorist, explaining, “I’ve checked out a Britney Spears post, and I hate Britney Spears music”.