‘No evidence’ Calif. shooters supported jihad on social media

While married killers Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik were said to have contacted suspected extremists through social media, Comey insisted that they only expressed support for “jihad and martyrdom” in “direct, private messages”.

The FBI and the Homeland Security Department have been under fire in recent days for allowing Malik to come to the United States, putting President Barack Obama’s administration on the defensive after news reports surfaced about her radical social media posts. “I’ve seen some reporting on that, and that’s a garble”.

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FBI Director James Comey, pictured on Wednesday, said there was no evidence to suggest the couple posted on social media.

The Islamist militant group has “revolutionised” terrorism by seeking to inspire such small-scale attacks, he said, noting the group uses social media, encrypted communications and slickly produced propaganda to recruit followers around the world.

Marquez, 24, legally purchased the rifles from an authorized gun dealer in 2011 and 2012, but there was no record of any transfer of the weapons from him to Syed Rizwan Farook or Farook’s wife, Tashfeen Malik, according to federal sources familiar with the ongoing investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity.

He said the couple indicated their support for jihad in private messages and emails dating back to 2013.

“It’s safe to assume that in the wake of this tragic incident that we’re all going to be taking a hard look at the social media aspect of this”, State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters Monday. Investigators are still not certain why they targeted the Inland Regional Health Center, where Farook’s co-workers were attending a holiday celebration, he added at Wednesday’s news conference.