FBI investigating California shooting as act of terrorism
The FBI is investigating the recent mass shooting in California, which led to the deaths of 14 people, as an "act of terrorism," the agency says.
"Based on the information and the facts as we know them, we are now investigating these horrific acts as an act of terrorism," David Bowdich, assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Los Angeles office, told reporters on Friday.
"We have uncovered evidence that has led us to learn of extensive planning," Bowdich added.
On Wednesday, a couple armed with rifles and handguns attacked a center for people with developmental disabilities in San Bernardino, California, killing at least 14 people and wounding 21.
The shooters, Tashfeen Malik, 27, a native of Pakistan, and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, were shot dead in a shootout with police hours after the massacre.
According to three US officials familiar with the investigation, Malik had pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Daesh terrorist group.
"At this point we believe they were more self-radicalized and inspired by the group than actually told to do the shooting," one official told the New York Times.
Also, President Barack Obama said Thursday that there is a “possibility” that the shooting “is terrorist-related.”
US police officials have said that Farook and Malik had enough bullets and bombs to kill hundreds when they launched their deadly attack.
San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan suggested the bloodbath could have been far worse.
He said authorities found three rigged-together pipe bombs with a remote-control detonating device that could not function properly in addition to 12 other pipe bombs and more than 3,000 additional rounds of ammunition in the home.
The California shooting was the deadliest in the US since a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012.
So far this year, there have been more than 350 mass shootings in the United States, in which four or more people were wounded or killed, according to the crowd-sourced website shootingtracker.com, which keeps a running tally of US gun violence.
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