Tashfeen Malik: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know
Published 1:16 am EST, December 3, 2015
Updated 11:20 am EST, December 3, 2015
A California Highway Patrol officer stands with his weapon as authorities pursued the suspects. (Getty)
Tashfeen Malik was killed by police along with her husband
Syed Farook after the
Inland Regional Center shooting in San Bernardino, California, on December 2. She was 27 years old. Malik is thought to be a native of Pakistan. Syed Farook was a U.S. citizen whose parents are from Pakistan. His brother-in-law Farhan Khan
said at a press conference that he believed Farook had been born in the U.S.
The two suspects were killed in a hail of police gunfire on a residential street in San Bernardino just a few hours after they allegedly opened fire at a Christmas party in the town. The party was being thrown for the county health department, where Syed Farook had been employed. In total, 14 people innocent people were killed at the party with another 17 injured. Cops tracked them to a home in Redlands, some 15 minutes from San Bernardino, and then pursued them in a high-speed chase when they tried to escape.
Here’s what we know so far:
1. Farook Had Recently Traveled to Saudi Arabia & Came Back With a Wife
SB police : Syed Farook was at work and attended holiday party & left early. He was employee of SB county
pic.twitter.com/NtqE2WuY3w
— Tara Wallis (@tarawallis)
December 3, 2015
Police said at a press conference on the night of December 2 that they are unsure if Farook and Malik were married or just engaged. However an earlier
report from the Los Angeles Times said that Farook had married in the past six months.
The Times said Farook had recently traveled to Saudi Arabia and came back to the U.S. with a wife that he had met online.
Farook shown in a screengrab via ABC News.
A co-worker of Farook’s
told ABC News that the shooter had described Malik as a pharmacist.
2. They Leave Behind a 6-Month-Old Child
The couple had a baby who is six months old. That child was in the care of family at the time of the attack and remains there.
The Los Angeles Times reports that Malik left her baby with the child’s grandmother on the morning of the shooting. They told the grandmother that the couple had a doctor’s appointment. That same grandmother filed for divorce in 2006 from Farook’s father citing domestic abuse. Her home became the center of a police search on December 3,
reports CBS Los Angeles.
That’s according to the Council of American Islamic Relation executive director Hussam Ayloush who spoke at a press conference in the aftermath of the shooting. An
online baby registry for Malik shows the baby was due on May 17, 2015, in Riverside, California.
The New York Post reports that Farook’s co-workers had thrown the couple a baby shower earlier this year, these were the same co-workers he would slaughter on December 2.
Ayloush also said that it was “impossible to track down a specific mosque” that the couple attended. Ayloush also attested that Farook’s family thought he was going to be among the victims of the Inland Regional Center shooting.
You can watch the full press conference, featuring comments from Farook’s brother-in-law, above.
3. On an Online Dating Profile, Farook Said He Was Looking for a Girl Who Was a ‘Good Muslim’
The back of the couple’s home in Redlands, California, the day after the shooting. (Screengrab via KTLA)
An ABC News report mentioned Farook’s online dating habits. From profile read that he was part of a “religios [sic] but modern family of 4 and that his hobbies included “doing target practice with younger sister and friends.” Another profile said that he was trying “to live as a good Muslim. Looking for a girl who has the same outlook, wear hijab, but live life to the fullest.”
He had set up the profile on
iMilap, a dating site that describes itself as “a site for people with disabilities and second marriage.”
4. All 4 of the Guns That Farook & Malik Had Were Legally Purchased
Audio: Police dispatches from shootout with
#SanBernardino mass shooting suspects –
Mass Shooting in California Leaves 14 Dead, 17 Wounded Grasswire | Your Newsroom pic.twitter.com/wjyS3BsZl2
— Grasswire (@Grasswire)
December 3, 2015
All of the guns recovered from the car that Farook and Malik were killed in had been bought legally. They were registered to someone who was connected to the shooting,
reports CNN. The network also says that that the rifles used in the attack at the center were “AR-15s or similar style weapons.” That report also talked about Farook and Malik being dressed in “assault-style clothing.”
The New York Times reports that police recovered assault rifles and “two semiautomatic handguns” from the couple’s car.
Having moved away from earlier statements, police in San Bernardino now believe that there were only two shooters, not three.
The San Bernardino police chief Jarrod Burguan
told the media that “There had to be some sort of planning that went into this.” Burguan continued “I don’t think they just ran home, put on these types of tactical clothes, grabbed guns and came back on a spur of the moment.” The chief spoke regarding the report that Farook had been at a holiday party and gotten into an argument with someone. Only to return a few hours later to open fire.
Burguan later explained that officers had been “working on” what they believed were explosive devices which had been left at the Inland Regional Center.
5. Terrorism Has Not Been Ruled Out as a Motive by the FBI
Officials said they do not know what the motive for the shooting is so far.
After initially saying there were no indications of terrorism, the FBI said Wednesday night that they have not ruled out a connection to terrorism. The FBI spokesman would not give an more specifics.
“I am not willing to go down that road just yet,” said David Bowdich, the head of the FBI’s Los Angeles office, at a press conference. “We will go where the evidence takes us.”
Tashfeen Malik: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know | Heavy.com
.Someday I would study Kuran and Bible.
