• Syed Rizwan Farook, Tashfeen Malik shot dead by police
• They gunned down 14 people at social centre
• Farook was 'devout' Muslim US citizen and had links to terror suspects
• Couple had dropped off their baby before killing spree
The
two attackers who killed 14 people in a rampage at a banquet fired as
many as 75 rifle rounds at the scene, left behind three rigged-together
pipe bombs with a remote-control device that apparently malfunctioned,
and had over 1600 more bullets with them when they were gunned down in
their SUV, authorities said today.At their home, they had 12 pipe bombs, tools for making more explosives, and over 3000 rounds of ammunition, Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said in a grim morning-after inventory that suggested yesterday's bloodbath could have been far worse.
The couple were shot to death about four hours later and a few kilometres away in a furious gunbattle with police.
As the FBI took over the investigation, authorities were trying to learn why the couple left behind their 6-month-old daughter and went on the rampage - the nation's deadliest mass shooting since the Newtown, Connecticut, school tragedy three years ago that left 26 children and adults dead.
At the White House, President Barack Obama said after meeting with his national security team that it was "possible this was terrorist-related" but that authorities were unsure. He raised the possibility that it was a workplace dispute or that mixed motives were at play.
Farook was born in the US to a Pakistani family, was raised in Southern California and had been a San Bernardino County employee for five years, according to authorities and acquaintances. Authorities said Malik came to the US on a Pakistani passport in July 2014.
Sources have said Farook's apparent radicalisation contributed to his role in the mass shooting. Farook travelled to Saudi Arabia for several weeks in 2013 on the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca that Muslims are required to take at least once in their lifetime. This didn't raise red flags but it was during this trip that he met Malik, a native of Pakistan who came to the United States on a "fiancee visa" and later became a lawful permanent resident.
Residents told KABC-TV Redlands is a sleepy town and expressed shock that the killers might be their neighbours.
The attackers invaded the centre at around 11am local time, opening fire in a conference area county health officials had rented for an employee banquet. Farook attended the banquet, then left and returned with murderous intent.
Co-worker Patrick Baccari said he was sitting at the same table as Farook, who suddenly disappeared. Baccari said that when the shooting started, he took refuge in a bathroom and suffered minor wounds from shrapnel slicing through the wall.
The shooting lasted about five minutes, he said, and when he looked in the mirror he realised he was bleeding. "If I hadn't been in the bathroom, I'd probably be laying dead on the floor," he said.
The couple dropped off their daughter with relatives yesterday morning, saying they had a doctor's appointment, Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said after talking with family.
"We don't know the motives. Is it work, rage-related? Is it mental illness? Is it extreme ideology? At this point, it's really unknown to us, and at this point it's too soon to speculate," Ayloush said.
Co-workers told the Los Angeles Times that Farook was a devout Muslim but didn't talk about religion at work.
Farhan Khan, who is married to Farook's sister, told reporters that he last spoke to his brother-in-law about a week ago. Khan condemned the violence and said he had "absolutely no idea" why Farook would kill.
Seventeen people were wounded, according to authorities. As of last night, two patients were listed in critical condition.
About four hours after the late-morning carnage, police hunting for the killers riddled a black SUV with gunfire in a shootout 3km from the social services centre in this Southern California city of 214,000 people.
During the shootout, the couple fired 76 rounds, while law enforcement officers unleashed about 380, the police chief said.
