Investigation indicates San Bernardino shooters were radicalized — FBI director

They said Farook was an isolated individual with few friends, and there was no evidence that either suspect had extremist views.

He was awarded the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, among other awards for his service aboard the USS Enterprise as an information system technician from 2003 to 2007. “He was married, he had a daughter and a year ago he made $77,000”, said Gasser Shehata, 42, who attended the same mosque as Farook. He was raised in Southern California. They said Farook reported meeting his future wife online. His co-workers described him as mild-mannered and well-liked.

Fours hours after the killings the couple were shot dead during a fierce gun battle with police after they were tailed from their home in nearby Redlands. They said Farook’s mother never saw any of the weapons or bombs authorities found. The FBI questioned her Wednesday night and, according to the attorneys, said they would not release her until Farook’s siblings came for questioning.

They say the child is with child protective services.

The FBI said Friday the mass shooting is now being investigated as terrorism.

“The investigation so far has indicated radicalization by the killers and of a potential inspiration by foreign terrorist organizations”, Comey told reporters at a joint briefing at FBI headquarters in Washington with Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

But Comey noted there’s still “a lot evidence that doesn’t quite make sense”.

Jesus Gonzales, center left, who has been separated with his wife since Wednesday’s shooting, is comforted by local church members including Jose Gomez, center right, in San Bernardino, Calif., Dec. 3, 2015. Islamic State, which has seized large swaths of Syria and Iraq, claimed responsibility for the November 13 attacks in Paris in which gunmen and suicide bombers killed 30 people.

Bowdich said investigators were looking carefully to determine if there is a connection to IS.

Meanwhile, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said Friday it is investigating the mass shooting as an “act of terrorism”.

While Malik was a Pakistani national, Farook’s parents migrated to the U.S. from Pakistan. He said the shooters had attempted to erase their digital footprints and that agents had recovered two deliberately destroyed cellphones. However, it was uncertain whether the comments were posted by Malik herself or someone with access to her page.

A Facebook executive told The Associated Press that Tashfeen Malik posted the material under an alias account at 11 a.m. Wednesday. He noted some phone conversations between at least one of the San Bernardino shooters and other people are being investigated by federal officials.

The executive spoke on condition of anonymity because this person was not allowed under corporate policy to be quoted by name. Separately, a USA intelligence official said Farook had been in contact with known Islamic extremists on social media.

The two officials 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. Following the marriage, the immigrant becomes a conditional resident for two years and must ask the US government to remove those conditions at the end of that waiting period and undergo another background check.

He notably visited Saudi Arabia.

“We really don’t know anything about that sister”, Khaled Zaidan, chairman of the board of directors of the Islamic Community Center of Redlands, said.

John Cohen, a former counterterrorism co-ordinator for the Homeland Security Department and a Rutgers University professor, said those people are harder to detect.

The holiday party was held for the county public health department, where Farook was an employee for about five years.

Landlord Doyle Miller opened the home after the FBI was finished with its investigation and that journalists quickly took over the home. There was a computer screen, but no computer. “You left your 6-month-old daughter … in this life”.

Lawyers representing the family of the two San Bernardino attackers have said relatives are “in complete shock” over the shooting.

Malik was a native of Pakistan who had been living in Saudi Arabia when she met Farook during his month-long vacation there.

One of Farook’s colleagues said he was convinced Malik had radicalized her husband.

Through Wednesday afternoon and evening, police pursued Farook and Malik throughout the area, and eventually killed both of them in a shootout that also left one officer wounded.