The married couple that killed 14 people and wounded 21 at a center for the disabled in San Bernadino, California, had jihadist connections. The shooting might have elements of workplace violence, since the male assailant worked there and apparently was angered at a Christmas party, but the FBI is handling the case as a counterterrorism investigation.
From F.B.I. Treats San Bernardino Attack as Possible Terrorism Case – The New York Times:
The married couple suspected of killing 14 people at a social services center had built more than a dozen pipe bombs and stockpiled thousands of rounds of ammunition, officials said Thursday, and they fired as many as 150 bullets at victims and police officers in a rampage that shattered a quiet day and ended in their own deaths.
The F.B.I. has begun treating its inquiry as a counterterrorism investigation, two law enforcement officials said Thursday. The suspects’ extensive arsenal, their recent Middle East travels and evidence that one had been in touch with people with Islamist extremist views, both in the United States and abroad, all contributed to the decision to refocus the investigation. But officials emphasized that they were unclear what set off the attack, and said they were not ready to call it terrorism.
The suspects, Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Malik, 27, are believed to have opened fire inside the Inland Regional Center on Wednesday. In addition to the 14 people killed, the authorities now say 21 were injured, four more than originally said. The attack was the nation’s deadliest mass shooting since the assault on an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., nearly three years ago.
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