Motive Still a Mystery in San Bernardino Shooting as Police Investigate Shooters

ABC News

The two suspects in the California shooting that left 14 people dead and 17 others wounded Wednesday have been identified by police, but investigators are still grappling to determine a motive.

Officials have not ruled out terrorism, but emphasize that no motive has yet been discovered.  

The shooting, which is the deadliest mass shooting in the United States since the 2012 Newtown Elementary School massacre in Connecticut, took place at a conference and holiday luncheon for the San Bernardino County Health Department.

Suspected shooters Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik were fatally shot by police after a chase a few miles from the Inland Regional Center, where the attack occurred. Farook’s brother-in-law said the pair got married two years ago, but police have not confirmed the nature of their relationship.

They have a child together and the executive director of Council on American-Islamic Relations told ABC News they had dropped off the baby with one of their mothers, saying they had a doctor’s appointment.

The U.S-born Farook had worked for the county for five years, police said, adding that he was at the event earlier Wednesday but left at some point.

“He did leave the party early under some circumstances that was described as angry or something of that nature,” San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said.

PHOTO: Syed Rizwan Farook, seen in an online dating profile photo.Syed Rizwan Farook/Singlemuslim.com
Syed Rizwan Farook, seen in an online dating profile photo.

Police initially reported that there was a third suspect, but now say Farook, 28, and Malik,27, were the only two shooters involved in the attack.

“We initially put out that there was information that there was upwards of three shooters,” Burguan said. “It really looks like we have two shooters that we believe went into the building are the two shooters that are deceased.”

In addition to the two assault rifles and two semi-automatic handguns that were used in the shooting, investigators also found three pipe bomb-style devices that they believed to be explosive devices. They were disposed of by the bomb squad.

There was also a bomb threat made against the Loma Linda University Medical Center, the area’s only level-one trauma center, which received five people with injuries.

PHOTO: A police officer lights up flares near the scene where a shootout took place, Dec. 2, 2015, in San Bernardino, Calif.Jae C. Hong/AP Photo
A police officer lights up flares near the scene where a shootout took place, Dec. 2, 2015, in San Bernardino, Calif.

The hospital was put on a code-yellow alert in response to the threat but it was later determined “the threat was indeed not credible and that our campus was safe,” hospital spokeswoman Briana Pastorino said Wednesday.

Police were able to track Farook and Malik down after following “some tips” leading to a home in the nearby city of Redlands.

“When officers set up on the residence to watch it, there was a vehicle seen leaving that was suspected of possibly being involved,” Chief Burguan said. “There ended up being a pursuit of the vehicle and that pursuit came back to … the city of San Bernardino where the suspect vehicle stopped and there was an officer-involved shooting.”

Footage of a bullet-riddled SUV was made by news helicopters and one of the suspects appeared to be lying in the street while another body was seen later being removed from the vehicle.

ABC News’ Joshua Hoyos contributed to this report.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/motive-mystery-san-bernardino-shooting-police-investigate-shooters/story?id=35551325

5 thoughts on “Motive Still a Mystery in San Bernardino Shooting as Police Investigate Shooters

  1. ‘The shooting, which is the deadliest mass shooting in the United States since the 2012 Newtown Elementary School massacre in Connecticut, took place at a conference and holiday luncheon for the San Bernardino County Health Department.’ I didn’t have to read anything after that

  2. The motive is obvious. The commies want to disarm Americans so they can be slaughtered without putting up any resistance.

    A lot of people will be killed in these staged “mass shooting” events to garner popular support for abolishing the second article. (there’s another mass shooting being planned as I type this, if it’s not already happening).

    They’re being sacrificed by and for the New World Order, which cannot impose their tyrannical world government on us if we can fight back.

  3. A previous post (video) featuring a Craigslist ad for 30 crisis actors…14 plus 17 equals 31….hmmmmmm….

    Considering the economy is about to collapse, more and more uninformed people–and there are still plenty of those!–will sign up to be crisis actors just to earn a little money. Sheep(le) to the slaughter, indeed!

  4. My Fellow Americans:

    Motive???

    Just ask POS Obama, DOJ, FBI, CIA, DHS, TSA or any of their zionist-jew commie overlords,…

    Motive: Disarm Americans,… Kill Them,… Take Their Assets, Wealth, & Property.

    Doesn’t get much simplier than that.

    JD – US Marines – Since when has the “motive” of pyschos ever been difficult to figure out??

    .

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