photo credit : insider.com
Tashfeen Malik, one of two shooters of the San Bernardino masscre, reportedly pledged allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on Facebook under an alias, according to unnamed U.S. officials.
The sources gave the information on the now-deleted postings to several news outlets, including the Associated Press and the New York Times. CNN reported that the posts may have been made during the attack.
Asked to confirm the reports, FBI spokesperson Laura Eimiller told Mashable she would not confirm nor deny, citing the "ongoing investigation."
Another U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said there was no sign that anyone affiliated with ISIS communicated with her, and it doesn't appear that she received any operational instructions.
Tashfeen Malik's role
Dressed in black tactical gear, Malik, 27, and her husband Syed Farook, 28, opened fire during a meeting of the San Bernardino County Health Department in an attack, killing 14 and injuring 21. Investigators struggled to determine a motive in the immediate aftermath of the attack, but police say they believe the couple was planning something, authorities just aren't sure what.
"There appears to be a degree of planning that went into this," Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said Thursday. "No one gets upset at a party, goes home... and puts together this elaborate scheme or plan."
The sheer scale of the attack — and the arsenal the couple had stockpiled in their suburban home — has left investigators searching for clues about their motive, with officials previously saying they were unwilling to rule out terrorism.
The couple shot between 65 and 75 rounds during a holiday party at the Inland Regional Center, and they fired 76 shots at police hours later. They were also carrying an additional 1,400 .223 rounds of ammunition and 200 9mm rounds, which were found on the suspects' bodies after they were killed.
"They sprayed the rooms with bullets," said Burguan. "I don’t know if there was any one person they targeted.”
When police searched a house in Redlands that the couple is believed to have lived in, they found a stockpile of weaponry: 12 pipe bombs and "hundreds of tools to construct IEDs," according to Burguan. In addition, police uncovered thousands of rounds of ammunition that included, 2,000 9mm rounds, 2,500 .223 rounds and several hundred 22 long-rifle rounds.
Despite the large volume of ammunition, the pair's possession of the supplies did not immediately appear to violate any local laws. The FBI has since taken over the investigation into the shooting.
"There was obviously a mission here," said David Bowdich, assistant director of the FBI’s Los Angeles office. "This is not your average investigation.
Additional information from the Associated Press.
