US seeks motive after 14 killed by husband-and-wife attackers

Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and his wife Tashfeen Malik, 27, entered a local health department building where a Christmas party was being held and sprayed gunfire. They left behind a six-month-old baby.

A couple embraces following the mass shooting that killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California on December 2. David Bauman/The Press-Enterprise via AP

WASHINGTON // The motive for the husband-and-wife attackers who killed 14 people in a southern California town remained unknown on Thursday, even as law enforcement officials said they were investigating a possible terror link.

“It would be irresponsible and premature for me to call this terrorism,” said David Bowdich, head of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, during a press conference in San Bernardino.

Mr Bowdich said that while he wanted to reveal only verified information about the incident, details pointed to a sophisticated attack. At least one of the attackers had been in contact with terror suspects, CNN reported, citing law enforcement officials.

Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and his wife Tashfeen Malik, 27, had entered a local health department building where a Christmas party was being held and sprayed gunfire, killing 14 people and wounding 21. Farook had worked at the health department for five years but there was no indication that any specific person had been targeted, according to San Bernardino police chief Jarrod Burguan. After firing nearly 100 rounds, the couple escaped in a black Ford Expedition. Four hours later they were killed in a shoot-out with police.

The duo dressed in black military-style clothing and were armed with assault rifles and handguns. Police later found 12 pipe bombs, tools for making explosives and more than 3,000 rounds of ammunition at their home. They also left behind at the scene of the attack three rigged-together pipe bombs with a remove-control device that apparently malfunctioned. They were found by police with 1,600 bullets with them.

The couple left behind a six-month-old baby.

Farook was a Pakistani-American while Malik was described as having entered the United States on a Pakistani passport.

Farook was described as a devout Muslim, but did not discuss religion at work.

US president Barack Obama said that while it was possible the attack was terrorism-related, there may have been “mixed motives” for the shooting. He also said that US citizens should “search ourselves as a society”, in an effort to end the mass gun violence that has racked the country for years.

Following November attacks in Paris carried out by ISIL that killed 130, there have been heightened fears about terror attacks around the world.

Despite a lack of clarity about the motivation of the attackers, the Council on American-Islamic Relations called a press conference on Thursday morning to condemn the attack, a reflection of concern over a backlash against Muslims.

Farhan Khan, Farook’s brother-in-law, said he was “shocked that something like this happened here”, according to US media.

Farook was at the Christmas Party on Wednesday when he had a dispute with co-workers and left in anger. He returned with Malik and opened fire on his colleagues before fleeing in the SUV.

One of his colleagues said he had disappeared so quickly that he left his coat on his chair. They were tracked down hours later in nearby Redlands, where they were killed.

Officials said planning had clearly gone into the attack, but were unsure if the Christmas party was the original target.

“There was obviously a mission here. We know that.

“We do not know why.

We don’t know if this was the intended target or if something triggered him to do this immediately,” Mr Bowdich said.

Without going into specifics, Mr Bowdich said Farook had at some point left the country for “international travel”, returning in July 2014 with Malik, who arrived on a finance visa. They were later married. The only country Mr Bowdich specified Farook visited was Pakistan.

A woman wounded during the rampage at a Southern California social service center managed to text her family after she was shot.

Julie Paez’s son, Nick Paez, said Thursday that his mother was shot at least twice and a bullet shattered her pelvis. She tests water safety for the county health department and was attending a holiday work gathering Wednesday when attackers killed 14 people.

Nick Paez says his mother was able to send her family a message through a group chat app to say she’d been shot and included a selfie that showed just her face.

He says the family “didn’t know if she was alive or dead” after receiving the photo.

Mr Paez’s father frantically checked hospitals. Nick Paez says they had to wait eight hours to see her as she underwent surgery and then went an intensive-care unit.

On Thursday, local police said there were no more credible threats to the town. On Thursday, local police said there were no more credible threats to the town.

Wednesday’s attack was the deadliest mass shooting in the US since the an attack on a Connecticut school three years ago that left 26 children and adults dead.

* with additional reporting by the Associated Press

* with additional reporting by agencies