San Bernardino Killer Housewife Malik Radicalized Years Before Attack
As the investigation turns toward the role of Tashfeen Malik, the housewife and mother who was one half of the killer couple in San Bernardino shooting last week, law enforcement agencies believe she was radicalized before she landed in the US.
David Bowdich, assistant director in-charge of LA's FBI office, said that the couple was radicalized, according to CNN. Just when and how Malik set out on the path of extremism that is now attributed to the death of 14 people at the Inland Regional Center is to be determined. Reports have emerged that Malik had links with a mosque in Pakistan which allegedly had ties to extremists investigators are yet to ascertain the reasons. Investigators have also not ruled out the possibility that she influenced her husband Syed Rizwan Farook, a US citizen of Pakistani descent who married Malik in 2014. The couple's child was born in May this year.
Farook's father reportedly told an Italian newspaper that his son had expressed extremist ideas before, including voicing support to the ideology of ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. The family's lawyer later claimed that the father denied telling the paper about his son's views.
Malik's role as the instigator was suspected when authorities learnt she had pledged allegiance to Baghdadi as the massacre was happening.
The weapons used in the assault at the center are also key aspects of the investigations as authorities seek to determine if others helped the couple planned the assault. Officials have nearly ruled out that Farook could not have amassed the weapons used in the attack and the ammunition found stashed at his townhouse in Redlands, CA. Investigators believe ISIS may have inspired the couple to carry out the attack, they do not believe a direct involvement of foreign terror groups. However, investigators are questioning Farook's neighbor Enrique Marquez, the 24-year-old in whose names two of the assault rifles used by the couple in the massacre, was purchased, ABC reports.
