Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Of killers, wife’s past life murkiest
So far, few answers found on why new mother took murderous turn
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — The Pakistani woman who joined her U. S.- born husband in killing 14 people in a commando-style assault on his co-workers Wednesday is now at the center of an FBI terrorism investigation.
But thus far, Tashfeen Malik is shrouded in mystery.
FBI off icials, family lawyers and others say they know little about the 29- yearold housewife and mother, apart from what came to light Friday: that Malik had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group on Facebook as she and her husband, Syed Farook, 28, went on the rampage. The couple had a 6-month-old child.
Earlier reports listed Malik’s age as 27, but the FBI on Saturday confirmed she was 29.
The turn in the investigation raised a host of questions, among them:
If the couple were radicalized, when, where and how did it happen? Were they influenced by Islamist material online or direct contact with extremists?
If it happened before Malik arrived in the U.S., did counterterrorism authorities miss any warning signs when they investigated her before approving her visa?
And which of them was the driving force in the attack?
“Malik seems to be a very nebulous figure,” said Natana DeLong-Bas, an assistant professor of theology at Boston College.
She said the case should cause people to rethink some of their assumptions about extremism.
“We always seem to assume only a man would be capable of making a terrorist attack,” DeLong-Bas said. “Because we know so little about Tashfeen Malik, it’s possible she might have been the main organizer in this event and talked her husband into doing it.”
Husband and wife were killed in a shootout with police hours after they armed themselves with assault rifles and opened fire on a gathering of Farook’s colleagues from the San Bernardino County Health Department, where he worked as a restaurant inspector. The FBI said it is investigating the rampage as a terrorist attack.
President Barack Obama
plans to deliver a prime-time address to the nation tonight on the attack and the government’s efforts to keep the nation safe.
Hundreds of FBI employees are working on the the case, interviewing people, gleaning information off the Internet, conducting searches and analyzing evidence, bureau spokesman Laura Eimiller said.
Early Saturday, authorities with guns drawn raided a home next door to the house where Farook’s family used to live in Riverside, Calif., breaking windows and using a cutting torch to get into the garage, neighbors said.
The FBI would not say what it was looking for, but a neighbor said an old friend of Farook’s lives there. More than three years ago, that person bought the two assault rifles later used in the shooting, but authorities haven’t been able to talk to him because he checked himself into a mental hospital after the attack, said a law enforcement official who was not allowed to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The FBI has said the man is not a suspect in the shootings, although they want to question him.
U.S. officials said Farook had been in contact with extremists on social media, but one official said those contacts were not recent and did not involve any significant players on the FBI’s radar.
FBI Director James Comey said Friday that there was no indication so far that the couple were part of a larger cell or were directed by a foreign terror organization.
Farook was born in Chicago to Pakistani parents and raised in Southern California. Malik, who had been living in Pakistan and visiting family members in Saudi Arabia, had passed several government background checks and entered the U.S. in July 2014 on a K-1 visa, which allowed her to travel to the U.S. and get married within 90 days of arrival.
Malik was subjected to a vetting process the U.S. government describes as vigorous — including in-person interviews, fingerprints, checks against U.S. terrorist watch lists and reviews of her family members, travel history, and places where she lived and worked. The process began when she applied for a visa to move to the United States and marry Farook.
“This is not a visa that someone would use because it is easy to get into the U.S., because there are more background checks on this type of visa than just about anything else,” said Palma Yanni, a Washington-based attorney who has processed dozens of K-1 visas. “But fingerprints and biometrics and names aren’t going to tell you what is in somebody’s head unless they somewhere have taken some action.”
Malik started studying pharmacy at Bahauddin Zakariya University in the Pakistani city of Multan in 2012.
A maid who worked in the Multan home where Malik lived said Malik initially wore a scarf that covered her head but not her face. A year before she got married, she began wearing a scarf that covered all but her nose and eyes, the maid said. The maid spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of jeopardizing her employment with the family.
A relative of Malik’s in Pakistan, Hifza Batool, reported hearing similar things from other family members about Malik, her step-niece.
“I recently heard it from relatives that she has become a religious person and she often tells people to live according to the teachings of Islam,” said Batool, a teacher who lives in Karor Lal Esan, about 280 miles southwest of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
The Farook family attorneys, David Chesley and Mohammad Abuershaid, said none of his relatives had any indication either Farook or his wife held extremist views. The lawyers described Malik as “just a housewife” and cautioned against rushing to judgment.
ISLAMIC STATE CLAIMS COUPLE
On Saturday, the Islamic State’s radio station released a statement claiming that two of the group’s followers had carried out the shootings.
It was the first official claim of responsibility by the group after days of congratulatory messages posted on Twitter by its online supporters and a statement published on a news forum believed to be run by members of the Islamic State.
In its English- language broadcast, the Islamic State’s Bayan radio station referred to the couple who carried out the attack as “soldiers of the caliphate,” a term denoting members of the terrorist group’s army. The Islamic State group has used the same term to refer to gunmen who have carried out attacks in its name, including Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi, who fired on a site hosting a Prophet Muhammad cartoon competition in Garland, Texas, in May. A school security guard was wounded before a traffic police officer killed both gunmen.
A French gunman, Amedy Coulibaly, also referred to himself as a “soldier of the caliphate” in a video he recorded just before he attacked a kosher supermarket in a suburb of Paris in January.
In the broadcast about the California shootings, the Islamic State said, “Two soldiers of the khilafah executed an attack on the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, Calif., on the 20th of Safar,” according to a transcript provided by the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks jihadist propaganda. Safar is the second month of the Islamic calendar. “Light weapons were used, which led to the deaths of 14 disbelievers.”
But the Arabic-language broadcast differed from the group’s broadcast in English. In the Arabic version, the assailants are referred to as “supporters” of the caliphate, a term denoting a less direct connection to the terrorist group.
It is unclear why the two versions differ.
A sheriff in New York state Thursday made a public proclamation in response to the California shootings: If you can legally carry a gun, then you should.
“In light of recent events that have occurred in the United States and around the world I want to encourage citizens of Ulster County who are licensed to carry a firearm to PLEASE DO SO,” Ulster County Sheriff Paul Van Blarcum said in a statement posted to his office’s Facebook page.
The sheriff’s office reposted the statement Friday.
Van Blarcum, an elected official and a Democrat, estimated the county has more than 10,000 licensed gun owners, the Times Herald-Record reported. Ulster County is south of Albany and has a population of around 180,000.
“Look at all the mass shootings around; people are getting slaughtered and nobody has a gun,” Van Blarcum told the newspaper. “If you don’t have a gun, you’re useless.”
Ulster County District Attorney D. Holley Carnright responded to the sheriff ’s advice, calling the official “thoughtful and direct” but adding caution should be exercised.
“Though I fully support our right to bear arms and to defend ourselves I am not convinced more guns in the hands of untrained or unskilled civilians is the answer and nor do I believe does the Sheriff,” Holley wrote in a statement.