Syed Rizwan Farook (left) and Tashfeen Malik. FBI photos
Few details were available Sunday after FBI agents with a search warrant raided the Riverside home of Enrique Marquez, a former neighbor of Syed Farook, one of the shooters in Wednesday’s deadly San Bernardino rampage, multiple sources said.
Federal agents entered the Tomlinson Avenue home, Federal Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said. Eimiller declined to comment on the reason for the raid at the residence, reported to be next door to where Farook once lived.
ABC7 reported that Marquez was believed to have purchased two rifles used in Wednesday’s attack.
Eimiller would not divulge if the early morning Saturday raid was related to Wednesday’s bloodbath, but did say that agents made a “tactical entry” into the home as they conducted the search.
The Joint Terrorism Task Force has now taken the lead in the investigation into the shooting at the Inland Regional Center, which FBI officials have said was likely an “act of terrorism.”
The attack was carried out by Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Malik, 27, who had been married two years and had a 6-month-old daughter, authorities said.
After the FBI announcement thatthe attack probably was terrorism, an Islamic State online radio broadcast claimed that Farook and Malik were supporters of the terrorist group.
“Two followers of Islamic State attacked several days ago a center in San Bernardino,” media reports quoted the ISIS broadcast as saying. ISIS did not directly take credit for the attack, but praised Farook and Malik as “martyrs.”
The couple was killed in a gunbattle with police about seven hours after the initial shooting at the Inland Regional Center, which provides treatment for people with developmental disabilities.
Investigators had been reluctant to classify the shootings as terrorist related because they occurred during a holiday gathering at Farook’s workplace, and there were reports he left amid a dispute with a co-worker before returning with his wife and multiple weapons.
But on Friday, local FBI officials made the connection.
“We are now investigating these horrific acts as an act of terrorism,” David Bowdich, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said at a news conference in San Bernardino.
Bowdich declined to provide specifics, but confirmed he was aware of a Facebook post made by one of the suspects pledging allegiance to the ISIS terrorist group around the time of Wednesday’s shooting.
He said “there’s a number of pieces of evidence that have pushed us off the cliff” to proclaim the investigation to be a terrorism probe.
The FBI was initially in charge of the investigation and officials said federal authorities will continue to work in “lockstep” with local law enforcement on what is expected to be a lengthy probe.
Also on Friday, authorities finally pulled the rented SUV off the street where the couple were killed and into a secured storage area. And, reporters gained access to the Redlands townhouse where the couple lived, assembled bombs in a rear garage and amassed a large cache of weapons and ammunition.
And investigators found evidence the two deleted their social media accounts and destroyed their mobile phones the day before the shootings.
But family members, in various interviews and through a family attorney, said they had not seen any evidence the U.S.-born Farook, or his Pakistani wife, had been “radicalized.”
“None of the family members had any idea that this was going to take place,” attorney David Chesley said during a Friday news conference. They were “totally shocked” by what happened.
President Obama used his weekly address today to urge the country to work together to help prevent people from falling into “violent extremist ideologies.”
“It is entirely possible that these two attackers were radicalized to commit this act of terror. And if so, it would underscore a threat we’ve been focused on for years — the danger of people succumbing to violent extremist ideologies,” Obama said. “We know that ISIL and other terrorist groups are actively encouraging people — around the world and in our country — to commit terrible acts of violence, often times as lone wolf actors.And even as we work to prevent attacks, all of us — government, law enforcement, communities, faith leaders — need to work together to prevent people from falling victim to these hateful ideologies.”
The White House also announced that the president was briefed on the investigation today by his top security and law enforcement chiefs, who “highlighted several pieces of information that point to the perpetrators being radicalized to violence to commit these heinous attacks.”
Obama also will speak Sunday night about the San Bernardino carnage in a national address, the White House announced.
Three people slain in the rampage were Riverside County residents: Sierra Clayborn of Moreno Valley, 27, Aurora Godoy of San Jacinto, 26, and Damian Meins of Riverside, 58.
“This is an attack by radical, violent Islamic extremists, one of whom had openly stated her support for ISIS,” said Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona. “The overwhelming evidence make it clear the attack was an act of terrorism.”
“While residents from the Inland Empire have bravely fought against these extremists around the globe, we have now seen the violence from the War on Terror come to our region,” the congressman said. “In order to defend and protect the liberties and freedoms that make America and the Inland Empire an extraordinary place to live, we must restate our commitment and strengthen our resolve to defeat Islamic extremists around the world.”
Meins and Clayborn were graduates of UC Riverside, where more than 400 people gathered Friday evening for a candlelight vigil honoring those killed or injured in the rampage.
A candlelight vigil to mourn all the victims of the attack was held Saturday night in the Los Angeles area. Dubbed “United We Stand,” the event was at Granada Hills Charter High School at 10535 Zelzah Ave. It will be co-hosted by Devonshire Area in Partnership and Muslim Youth Los Angeles.
“(This vigil will) provide community members with the opportunity to stand together and remember the victims of the San Bernardino shooting incident,” organizers said in a prepared statement. “We will also pray to show support for the survivors who are recovering from their injuries.”
In Rancho Cucamonga, the Islamic Center of Inland Empire held an “interfaith solidarity meeting” in remembrance of the victims. The public was invited to attend the event, which is being held “to express our solidarity, compassion and support for the victims’ families.”
The Islamic Center condemned Wednesday’s shooting in a statement on its website, quoting the Quran. The statement read, “Whoever has killed an innocent person, it is as if he killed all of humanity” (Quran 5:32).
ICIE, which opened in 2008, serves the Muslim community of Rancho Cucamonga, as well as those in the surrounding cities of the Inland Empire. The other victims killed Wednesday were Robert Adams of Yucaipa, 40; Isaac Amanios of Fontana, 60; Bennetta Bet-Badal of Rialto, 46; Harry Bowman of Upland, 46; Juan Espinoza of Highland, 50; Shannon Johnson of Los Angeles, 45; Larry Kaufman of Rialto, 42; Tin Nguyen of Santa Ana, 31; Nicholas Thalasinos of Colton, 52; Yvette Velasco of Fontana, 27; and Michael Wetzel of Lake Arrowhead, 37.
On Wednesday morning, Farook left the couple’s infant daughter with his mother, claiming he was taking his wife to a doctor’s visit and didn’t want to bring the baby along, according to Hussam Ayloush, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Los Angeles (CAIR-LA).
Farook was a five-year employee of the San Bernardino County public health agency, which was holding a holiday party when the shooting erupted.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Farook traveled to Saudi Arabia last year and spent nine days there before returning with a new wife he met online.
The Times and other media outlets, citing a senior government official who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Farook was in contact with a number of extremists and at least one person being monitored by federal officials, a Pakistani named Roshan Zamir Abbassi, who is an assistant Imam in San Bernardino, where Farook worshipped.
However, Abassi told The Times he barely knew Farook and only exchanged occasional hellos and goodbyes.
Law enforcement sources told NBC News that Malik pledged allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a statement on Facebook just before she and her husband carried out Wednesday’s rampage. Investigators are reported to be looking into whether the Pakistan-born Malik radicalized her husband.
At a Thursday morning news conference, David Bowdich of the FBI said Malik came to the United States with the U.S.-born Farook in July 2014 on a work visa and had a Pakistani passport. The couple married after arriving in the U.S., which enabled her to gain legal permanent resident status last year.
The attack has brought new attention to the previously obscure K1 visa program, which is reserved for the fiances of U.S. citizens. Some advocates for stricter immigration enforcement are calling for investigations into the nation’s visa screening process and for a halt to the nation’s Syrian refugee program.
“New information coming to light regarding Tashfeen Malik’s citizenship reaffirms the fact that proper screening and vetting those coming into our country, whether with a visa or as a refugee, is not always possible,” Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which advocates for stricter immigration laws, said in remarks quoted by The Times.
The K1 visa permits the foreign-citizen fiance of a U.S. citizen to travel to the U.S. and marry his or her sponsor within 90 days of arrival. It is one of dozens of visas that allow foreigners to enter the U.S.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said K1 applicants, like other visa applicants, undergo an extensive counterterrorism screening that includes checks based on fingerprints and facial recognition software.
Meanwhile, the FBI has established a nationwide toll free line for tips regarding the massacre. It’s (800) CALL-FBI (Option 4) or 
(800) 225
— Staff and wire reports
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