Jihad In America
‘Devout’ Muslim US citizen and his wife left their baby at home to storm back to office holiday party with automatic weapons and slaughter 14 of his colleagues before dying in bloody police shoot-out
- Two suspects were killed by police in San Bernardino after a mass shooting at a conference center Wednesday
- Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Malik, 27, were killed in a gun battle with police after the mass shooting
- Farook is said to have traveled to Saudi Arabia earlier this year and returned with a wife – and a baby followed
- He wrote in an online profile on a Muslim dating site six years prior that he enjoys doing target practice in his backyard
- Farook and his wife left their six-month-old baby daughter with his mother in Redlands, California, telling her they were going for a doctor’s appointment
- Police said 14 died and a 17 were wounded after suspects opened fire at the Inland Regional Center on Wednesday
- San Bernardino Police Chief said shooters wore ‘assault-style’ clothing and had two handguns and two assault rifles – all legally purchased in US within the past four years, according to ATF
- Rampage reportedly sparked after gunman had an argument at a holiday party at the Inland Regional Center
- It is not known if he left of his own accord or was kicked out, but sources say he returned heavily armed
- Suspects left three explosive devices rigged to a remote-controlled toy car inside at the Inland Regional Center before fleeing in an SUV
- Cops were in a dramatic standoff with the suspects after reports that up to three people were on the loose
- Suspects reportedly threw pipe bombs out of the windows of their SUV before they were taken down by police
- An officer was taken to hospital with non life-threatening injuries after the standoff on a residential street
By noon, according to police, the couple had donned assault clothing, armed themselves with rifles and stormed a holiday party attended by San Bernardino County employees, killing 14 people and wounding 17 others.
Before sunset, after a massive manhunt and a violent shootout with police on a residential street, they were both dead, leaving a grieving community with few clues to puzzle out the motive for the carnage.
Those who knew Farook, among them his colleagues at the San Bernardino County Public Health Department, described him as a devout Muslim but not someone who often talked about religion.
‘He never struck me as a fanatic, he never struck me as suspicious,’ said Griselda Reisinger, a former colleague.
Co-worker Patrick Baccari, who shared a cubicle with Farook, told the Los Angeles Times he and his young family appeared to be ‘living the American dream.’
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Syed Rizwan Farook (pictured), 28, who is U.S.-born, and Tashfeen Malik, 27, were killed in a gun battle with police after the mass shooting at a government holiday party held at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino
A broken window and crushed fence is seen at a home in Redlands, California, linked to the San Bernardino shooting suspects Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife
Pre-dawn raid: FBI agents search outside a home in Redlands, California, connected to Farook and Malik
Local news footage shows one of the dead attackers outside the shot-out SUV. The suspect was killed in a police chase while still inside the vehicle, then moved on the street
This image appears to show a body being pulled from the vehicle after the attackers had been killed
The second attacker, who is believed to have tried to run from the SUV, can be seen in a pool of blood in the bottom-right ot this image, taken from local news footage
A differently-angled aerial shot of the scene shows the second attacker on the other side of the street from the SUV, which has had its passenger-side front and back windows shot out
The shooters began their massacre at the Inland Regional Center (top left) before fleeing. Police later traced them to a home in Redlands (bottom right), where a chase began which ended on San Bernardino Avenue (top center), where the two were shot dead
