San Bernadino shooting: Islamic State broadcast says followers of the group

A horrific attack on a centre for people with disabilities sparks a manhunt for multiple gunman in San Bernardino, California.

The FBI took over the investigation from local authorities Friday. It’s not known what connections she may have had with any terrorists or groups.

Officials said the stockpile of ammunition and explosive devices discovered in their home suggested the couple may have planned to carry out more attacks.

“There’s a number of pieces of evidence that has essentially pushed us off the cliff to say we are now investigating this as an act of terrorism”, he said, adding that the couple had attempted to destroy their digital fingerprints.

A USA law enforcement official said Malik used a Facebook alias to pledge her allegiance to the Islamic State group and its leader just before the shootings.

Islamic State has praised the attacks and the 28-year-old US-born Farook is believed to have had contact with militant suspects.

FBI Director James Comey noted the bureau’s investigation so far has shown no evidence that the shooters were part of a larger group or members of a terror cell.

(AFP Photo) If proven to be terrorism, the San Bernardino massacre would be the deadliest attack by Islamic extremists on American soil since 9/11.

“She was like a typical housewife”, lawyer David Chesley said, describing Malik as “caring, soft-spoken” and a devout Muslim who prayed five times a day, chose not to drive and “kept pretty well isolated”. Farook, a restaurant inspector for the county, was born in Chicago to Pakistani parents and raised in Southern California.

Television crews were let inside the home of the California shooters on Friday, rifling through the couple’s personal effects for any clue to what drove them to gun down 14 people at an office party.

She started studying pharmacy at Bahauddin Zakariya University in the Pakistani city of Multan in 2012.

It was not immediately clear if the apartment was still considered an active crime scene.

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. The maid spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of jeopardizing her employment with the family.

“They weren’t the kids that ran around with everyone else in the neighborhood”, Sarah Allen, who lived on the same street as Farook most of her life, said according to the Journal.

Mohammad Abuershaid, an attorney for Farook’s family, said Malik moved to Riyadh when she was between 18 and 20.

“I recently heard it from relatives that she has become a religious person, and she often tells people to live according to the teachings of Islam”, recalled aunt Hifza Batool.

A candlelight vigil in San Bernardino following the shooting.

They said Farook, too, largely kept to himself, had few friends and said co-workers sometimes made fun of his beard.

Farook family attorneys, holding a news conference in Los Angeles on Friday, denied there was any evidence that either the husband or wife harbored extremist views.

She said the two altered rifles were purchased by a third party being questioned by authorities. They cautioned against rushing to judgment on their motivations.

ISIS stopped short of claiming responsibility for the attack, and there’s no indication yet the suspects had direct contact with any terror groups.

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Tami Abdollah, Ken Dilanian and Eric Tucker in Washington; Zarar Khan in Islamabad, Pakistan; Asim Tanveer in Karor Lal Esan, Pakistan; Brian Skoloff in Redlands, California; Kimberly Pierceall in San Bernardino, California; Lee Keath in Cairo, Egypt; and Gillian Flaccus, Christine Armario, Sue Manning and Justin Pritchard in Los Angeles.