Inside lair of gun killer radicalised by IS wife
Murder of 14 by California couple declared act of terrorism by FBI
SHOWING a prayer mat, a copy of the Koran and a bag of pipe bombs, these are the photos released by police of the home where two terrorists plotted a massacre as they raised their sixmonth-old baby.
The pictures show the suburban house in Redlands, California, where a Muslim couple planned the deadliest Islamist attack in the US since 9/11, in which 14 people were killed.
According to the FBI, the massacre is now officially being treated as an act of terrorism.
In the home of Syed Farook, 28, and his wife Tashfeen Malik, 27, officers found photos of women and children – although it is not clear whether any are Tashfeen or her child – as well as a crib filled with baby clothes, a children’s play area and toys on the floor. But the list of items seized by the FBI also included 5,000 rounds of ammunition, 12 pipe bombs and tools to make improvised explosive devices in the garage.
A police source said the bombs resembled explosives shown in an issue of Al Qaeda’s online magazine ‘Inspire’. In the house a sticker was also attached to a piece of furniture saying: ‘Praise be to Allah who relieved me from suffering.’
Last night Farook’s family expressed disbelief that the quiet Muslim who liked tinkering with vintage cars could have turned to violence. But it seems he was living a double life and was in contact with known Islamists, including one monitored as a terror suspect. His wife is increasingly suspected to be the source of his radicalisation. During the slaughter Malik wrote a post on Facebook under a different name pledging allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, it was reported yesterday.
The US authorities are also looking into the ‘serious’ possibility that Malik was part of what a government official called a ‘deeper terror matrix’. Farook, an environmental health inspector, and Malik, who had a pharmacy degree, were shot dead by police on Wednesday after they murdered 14 of his coworkers and injured 21 at an office party at the Inland Regional Centre in San Bernardino. Farook had met her online after his parents put up dating profiles for him which said he was looking for a ‘good Muslim’ who wore the hijab.
Farook, a US citizen, travelled to Saudi Arabia in 2013 to do the Hajj pilgrimage and met Malik there. He went back in July last year and told friends he planned to get married at the Grand Mosque of Mecca. Malik arrived in the US that month on a fiancee visa, and was given a green card this July.
In the US she wore a burka and attended prayers regularly at mosques. Mohammad Abuershaid, one of the Farook family’s lawyers, said: ‘She was very conservative, she was a stay-at-home mum. The family was just in shock when they found out. This wasn’t something they saw developing.’ But around the time that Malik arrived in the US, friends noticed a change in Farook, who started to wear long robes to worship. As an ID card discovered in his house shows, he also started to grow out his beard.
Three weeks ago Farook stopped going to the mosque he was attending. Around that time Farook had a heated conversation about Islam with Nicholas Thalasinos, 52, a Jew who was one of his co-workers – and one of those he shot dead. Thalasinos told a friend that Farook had said he ‘doesn’t agree that Islam is not a peaceful religion’.
Yesterday Farook’s sister Saira claimed she was shocked by her family members’ murderous action, saying: ‘I can never imagine my brother or sister- in- law doing something like this.’
But Farook’s close friend Christian Nwadike said Farook was different after he returned from the Middle East. Nwadike, who knew Farook for four years, said: ‘I think he married a terrorist. He was set up through that marriage.’