California shooting investigated as ‘act of terrorism’

Islamic terrorists have sworn an oath of allegiance, known as a bayat, to declare their loyalty to militant groups and leaders.

The White House said Obama met with top security officials who indicated that Syed Farook, 28, and his 29-year-old Pakistani wife Tashfeen Malik had been radicalized but that nothing at this point indicated that they were “part of an organized group or formed part of a broader terrorist cell”. According to two attorneys representing the Farook family, Malik was a simple housewife who was soft spoken, very private, conservative and isolated.

Authorities on Saturday said that while the two rifles used by the couple in the massacre had been purchased legally, they had been altered to make them more powerful and were illegal under United States law.

Days after the massacre that stunned the nation, more details are emerging. “We’ve seen what jumping to conclusions means and how it impacted our lives”.

The couple’s motivation for the attack is a key focus for investigators.

Police later discovered 12 pipe bombs, bomb-making materials, and thousands of rounds of ammunition in the couple’s apartment. Both died in a later shootout with police, and the FBI is investigating the massacre as an “act of terrorism”. The two were married in Riverside County in August, 2014, according to the Associated Press. They left behind a 6-month-old daughter. They say the family is originally from the Pakistani town of Karor Lal Esan, about 200 miles southwest of the capital of Islamabad in Punjab province.

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

Still, federal authorities told ABC News they are investigating whether Farook may have left behind social media connections with one of the most active and significant ISIS recruiters, an American from Minneapolis now an FBI fugitive living overseas by the name of Mohamed Hasan who uses the on-line handle Miski.

Maria Gutierrez says she was told to leave her house further down the street at 1:30 a.m. Saturday for safety reasons as authorities swept in with guns drawn.

The source added that “Tashfeen Malik was not in Saudi Arabia at the time when Farook was there to perform the minor pilgrimage”.

She made a second visit of almost four months in 2013. It was unclear if the English version was claiming them as members, or why there was an inconsistency.

An informed Saudi Arabian source confirmed that the perpetrators of the recent mass shootings in San Bernardino, California, did not meet in Saudi Arabia, adding that Saudi Arabia “receives hundreds of pilgrims who are American citizens yearly, and they return to the United States without being radicalised or harmed ideologically”.

Abuershaid and fellow attorney David Chesley said Farook had apparently been teased by colleagues at the county health department, where he had worked as an inspector, over the beard he grew. “The fact that Syed and his wife seemed to be so removed from the community and no one really knows much about him or his wife at all can often be a key indicator something is wrong”.

The New York Times, in its first front-page editorial for almost a century, said it was “a moral outrage and a national disgrace” that the sort of firearms used in the attack were readily available.

Obama also briefed Hollande on the investigation into the shootings.

Farook had no criminal record, and neither he nor his wife was under scrutiny by local or federal law enforcement before the attack, authorities said. He also declined to rule out that future possibility.

Lafayette, LA – Three people, including gunman John Russell Houser, were killed and nine more were injured in a theater during a screening of “Trainwreck” on July 22. “I believe on his salary, he was not able to buy this on his own”, said McCaul.