Wikipedia:2015 San Bernardino shooting
2015 San Bernardino shooting
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This article documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses, and initial news reports may be unreliable. The last updates to this article may not reflect the most current information. (December 2015) |
| 2015 San Bernardino shooting | |
|---|---|
| Part of Terrorism in the United States; Islamic terrorism (suspected)[1] | |
San Bernardino
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| Location | Inland Regional Center, San Bernardino, California, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 34.0755°N 117.2777°WCoordinates: 34.0755°N 117.2777°W (Inland Regional Center) 34.0775°N 117.2484°W (shootout with police) |
| Date | December 2, 2015 10:59 am (PST) |
| Target | San Bernardino County employees attending a holiday event |
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Attack type
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Mass shooting at workplace[1] |
| Weapons | |
| Deaths | 16 (14 civilians, 2 perpetrators) |
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Non-fatal injuries
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23 (21 civilians, 2 police officers)[4][5] |
| Perpetrators | Syed Rizwan Farook Tashfeen Malik[a] |
| Motive | Investigated as a case of Islamic terrorism (ISIL inspired)[1] |
Four hours later, police pursued the two perpetrators in their vehicle and killed them in a shootout. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began a counter-terrorism investigation because of the type of equipment used, the couple's recent travel to the Middle East, and a Facebook post attributed to Malik in which she pledged allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). FBI Director James Comey said that there was no indication the couple were part of a cell or network, or that they were directed by any group.[8]
Contents
Attack
A – Site of shooting
B – Injured people treated
C – School for the blind where some took shelter
B – Injured people treated
C – School for the blind where some took shelter
Coworkers reported that Farook had been quiet early on in the event and noticed he had left the party abruptly, leaving his coat and some papers before a group photo was taken.[11][14] There were some reports that an argument occurred before his departure.[15] In later police briefings, it was said he left "under circumstances that were described as angry".[16]
At 10:59 am PST, Farook and Malik, wearing non-armored black tactical outfits and ski masks, armed with semi-automatic pistols and semi-automatic rifles, opened fire on those in attendance.[17][18][19][20] The entire shooting took less than four minutes.[11] They fired between 65 and 75 bullets and left behind an explosive device that failed to detonate.[20] Witnesses said they recognized Farook as one of the shooters by his voice and build.[21]
Police response
It took four minutes for the first police unit to respond to the shooting following the initial 911 call.[13] At 11:14 am, the San Bernardino Fire Department made a Twitter post about an emergency on the 1300 block of Waterman Avenue, with the police working to clear the scene.[22][23][24][25] Roads in the area were closed to traffic.[26]Two police officers arrived almost simultaneously; when another officer arrived two minutes later, the three officers entered the building and began to evacuate the survivors.[13] The San Bernardino SWAT team happened to be conducting its monthly training exercise a few miles away from the scene at the time of the attack "and was able to arrive quickly, already wearing protective gear."[27] Ultimately, about 300 officers and agents from city, county, state and federal agencies responded to the active-shooter event,[13] converging on the scene as people were being evacuated.[27][28]
Police remotely detonated an unidentified device found at the scene and used a battering ram to get into the complex.[29][30] The FBI and the Los Angeles Police Department Counter-Terrorism Unit were called in to assist.[31] Police were on the lookout for a black SUV used by the perpetrators to flee the scene.[4][29]
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security sent a Pilatus PC-12 surveillance aircraft to the area, which circled the skies above San Bernardino for hours, mainly in the area where the shooting took place and in areas under investigation by police, and departed after the shootout between the perpetrators and police.[32][33]
Shootout and death of perpetrators
The shootout occurred on the south side of San Bernardino Avenue just
east of Sheldon Drive; the red "A" marks the location of the Inland
Regional Center.
The gunfire lasted under a minute before both perpetrators were killed.[36][37] The sheriff's department confirmed that one male and one female were killed.[38]
Seven police agencies were involved in the final shootout, with 23 officers firing a combined total of approximately 380 rounds.[13] The perpetrators fired 76 rifle rounds.[13][17] During the shootout, police asked residents to stay indoors.[39][40]
Initial news reports and witness accounts led to a search for up to three shooters, but police eventually determined that there were only two.[41][42] Police sergeant Vicki Cervantes said, after the confrontation, there was a possible third suspect on the loose.[43] Investigators in armored vehicles at the townhouse of the perpetrators considered ordering an evacuation, but instead ordered the neighborhood to shelter in place and cordoned off the area.[44] From 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm, people stayed inside with "doors locked & secure" after residents reported a person jumping fences.[45] No one was found; the reports may have been from officers at the scene.[45] A person detained after running away from the scene of the shootout was thought to be a possible third suspect, but police determined that he was not connected to the shooting; the person was booked on an unrelated outstanding misdemeanor warrant.[13]
Victims
14 civilians were killed and 21 others injured in the attack at the Inland Regional Center.[46][47] Once the injured were extracted from the building, it took about 15 minutes for them to get to the hospital.[13] Five patients were transported to the nearby Loma Linda University Medical Center[28][48] (the only Level I trauma center in the region)[49] and six were transported to the Arrowhead Regional Medical Center.[29][50] One police officer was injured in the gunfight by a bullet and hospitalized.[4][51][41] Another officer was injured by flying glass or shrapnel.[52]The dead ranged in age from 26 to 60.[53] Three—Isaac Amanios, Bennetta Betbadal and Tin Nguyen—had come to the United States to escape violence or persecution in their home countries.[54] Twelve of the dead were county employees;[53] ten were environmental health specialists.[55]
List of deceased
The 14 deceased ranged in age from 26 to 60 years old.[54]| Name | Age | Gender | Hometown |
|---|---|---|---|
| Robert Adams | 40 | Male | Yucaipa |
| Isaac Amanios | 60 | Male | Fontana |
| Bennetta Betbadal | 46 | Female | Rialto |
| Harry Bowman | 46 | Male | Upland |
| Sierra Clayborn | 27 | Female | Moreno Valley |
| Juan Espinoza | 50 | Male | Highland |
| Aurora Godoy | 26 | Female | San Jacinto |
| Shannon Johnson | 45 | Male | Los Angeles |
| Larry Daniel Kaufman | 42 | Male | Rialto |
| Damian Meins | 58 | Male | Riverside |
| Tin Nguyen | 31 | Female | Santa Ana |
| Nicholas Thalasinos | 52 | Male | Colton |
| Yvette Velasco | 27 | Female | Fontana |
| Michael Wetzel | 37 | Male | Lake Arrowhead |
Perpetrators
Syed Rizwan Farook
| Syed Rizwan Farook | |
|---|---|
2013 driver's license
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| Born | June 14, 1987 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | December 2, 2015 (aged 28) San Bernardino, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Shot by police |
| Education | California State University, San Bernardino (B.S. Environmental health) |
| Spouse(s) | Tashfeen Malik (m. 2014–15) |
| Children | 1 daughter (b. 2015) |
Farook worked as a food inspector for the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health for five years before the shooting.[64][65][66] From July to December 2010, he was a seasonal employee for the county. He was hired as an environmental health specialist trainee on January 28, 2012, and became a permanent employee on February 8, 2014.[61] Coworkers described Farook as quiet and polite and said that he held no obvious grudges.[14]
According to family members and coworkers, Farook was a devout Sunni Muslim, and traveled to Saudi Arabia several times, including to complete the hajj in 2013.[16][49] Farook attended prayers at the Islamic Center of Riverside twice a day, in the mornings and the evenings, according to an interview in The New York Times with Mustafa H. Kuko, the Center's director. According to the Times, Farook stood out as especially devout and "kept a bit of a distance" from other congregants.[67] During that time, according to friends, he never discussed politics. About three weeks before the shooting, Farook abruptly stopped going to the mosque.[68]
Tashfeen Malik
| Tashfeen Malik | |
|---|---|
Passport photo
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| Born | July 13, 1988 Karor Lal Esan, Pakistan |
| Died | December 2, 2015 (aged 27) San Bernardino, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Shot by police |
| Education | Bahauddin Zakariya University |
| Spouse(s) | Syed Rizwan Farook (m. 2014–15) |
| Children | 1 daughter (b. 2015) |
According to one of Farook's coworkers, Malik and her husband married about a month after he traveled to Saudi Arabia in early 2014; the two had met over the internet.[14][37] Malik joined Farook in California shortly after their wedding. At the time of her death, Malik and Farook had a six-month-old daughter.[66][72][73]
Malik entered the United States on a K-1 (fiancée) visa with a Pakistani passport.[16][49][74] According to a State Department spokesman, all applicants for such visas are fully screened.[75] Malik's application for permanent residency (a "green card") was completed by Farook on her behalf in September 2014, and she was granted a conditional green card in July 2015.[74] Obtaining such a green card would have required the couple to prove that the marriage was legitimate, as well as requiring Malik to provide her fingerprints and pass criminal and national security background checks using government databases.[49][74]
Malik was one of a small number of female mass shooters in the U.S.; women constituted only 3.75 percent of active shooters in the U.S. from 2000 to 2013.[76][77][78][79]
Investigators think that Malik, as opposed to her husband, may have been the primary planner and "mastermind" behind the attack.[80] Christian Nwadike, a coworker of Farook for five years, said that Farook's personality changed after his return from Saudi Arabia; Nwadike believed that Farook "married a terrorist" and was radicalized by her.[81] Malik reportedly had become very religious in the years before the attack, dressing more conservatively (she variously wore the niqab and burqa[82]) and urging others to so.[83]
Pakistani media reported that Malik had ties to the radical Red Mosque in Islamabad, but a cleric and a spokesman from the mosque vehemently denied these claims, saying that they had never heard of Malik before the shooting.[83][84] Malik's estranged relatives say that she had left the moderate Islam of her family and become radicalized while living in Saudi Arabia.[84][85]
Investigation
Neither shooter had a criminal record,[86] and neither was on an anti-terrorism list.[87]Weapons and equipment used
Investigators reported that the attackers used two .223-caliber semi-automatic rifles, two 9 mm caliber semi-automatic pistols, and an explosive device in the attack.[2][3][49] The rifles used were variants of the AR-15: one was a DPMS Panther Arms A15, the other was a Smith & Wesson M&P15.[49][88] One of the handguns was manufactured by Llama and the other is a Springfield XD.[88] All four of the guns were purchased legally from federally licensed firearms dealers in California in 2011 and 2012.[19] The two handguns were purchased by Farook from Annie's Get Your Gun, a federally licensed dealer in Corona.[19][89] The two rifles, according to FBI officials, were purchased by Enrique Marquez, a childhood friend of Farook's whose home was searched by federal authorities following the attack.[90][91]After the couple acquired the rifles, they subsequently and illegally altered them: there was an attempted modification to enable the Smith & Wesson rifle to fire in fully automatic mode, and the DPMS weapon used a high-capacity magazine,[3][92] which is not legal in California. The couple had 1,400 rounds for the rifles and 200 for the handguns with them at the time of the shootout.[49]
In addition to the firearms, the perpetrators left three explosive devices connected to one another at the Inland Regional Center. The devices—described as "three pipe bombs tied together to make one device"—were "stitched together on a remote-controlled car" and failed to explode.[93][56] The bombs were later detonated by a bomb squad.[2][35]
Searches
After the deaths of the perpetrators, the focus shifted to a small townhouse in Redlands, a few miles away from San Bernardino; the place where Farook and Malik met after the shooting and where they lived.[94][95] By 6:00 p.m. PST on December 2, police were executing a search warrant on the house.[94] According to the San Bernardino police chief, Farook and Malik were listed in the rental agreement.[96] Police used robots to search the house.[95] Investigators found 2,000 9-mm handgun rounds, 2,500 .223-caliber rounds, twelve pipe bombs, and the tools that could be used to make improvised explosive devices.[97] Because the firearms used in the attack all had serial numbers,[88] the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) was able to complete an "urgent trace" at its National Tracing Center in Martinsburg, West Virginia less than two hours after the guns were recovered.[19] The couple was unsuccessful in destroying their personal electronics, including mobile phones and hard drives, prior to the attack.[98][99]Pursuant to a federal search warrant, the authorities also searched a townhouse in Corona twice,[96] where Farook's brother and father lived.[100] The FBI said that the family was cooperating and authorities did not arrest anyone.[100]
Early in the morning of December 5, federal authorities, under a federal search warrant, searched the Riverside home of Enrique Marquez, the man who allegedly purchased the two assault rifles used by the shooters in the attack.[90][91][101] Marquez's home is next door to the house where Farook grew up.[90] Marquez has not been charged with a crime, and according to the FBI he is not considered a suspect in the shooting.[90][91] California requires that private sales and transfers of firearms go through a California licensed dealer. A neighbor who witnessed the search said that Marquez and Farook "had been close friends since childhood but appeared to have grown more distant in recent months."[91]
Motive
The FBI is investigating the case as terrorism inspired by, but not directed by, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).[1] Sources reported that Malik pledged bay'ah (allegiance) to the leader of ISIL on a Facebook account associated with her as the attack was underway.[1][102][103] CNN and the Associated Press reported that ISIL described the couple as "supporters" of the group in an online radio broadcast, but did not say whether the organization played a direct role in the attack.[104] The ISIL's radio broadcast referred to the two shooters as "soldiers of the caliphate" which is a term they use to denote members of the terrorist organization.[105]Police said the attack was probably not just a reaction to an argument; it was likely planned in advance to some extent.[10][15] On December 3, the FBI took over,[106] treating the probe as a counterterrorism investigation.[49][107] Farook had contacted "persons of interest" that were possibly tied to terrorism, but these contacts were not "substantial", according to a senior U.S. law enforcement official.[108] A senior federal official had said that Farook had some contact with people from the Nusra Front, the official al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria,[109] and Shabaab of Somalia, but specifics were unclear.[1][98][102] FBI Director James Comey said that there were indications from the investigation that the killers had become radicalized and possibly inspired by foreign terrorist organizations, but no indication that the couple were part of a cell or network, or directed by any group.[1][8][110] Comey said that the case did not follow the typical pattern for mass shootings or terrorist attacks.[1] This was the deadliest ISIL-inspired attack in the United States.[1]
Media views inside suspects' home
After the FBI completed a search of the perpetrators' townhouse, it was turned over to its landlord.[111][112][113] On December 4, the landlord used a crowbar to open the door to the home and allowed reporters and photographers to "swarm" the home.[112][113][d] NBC News correspondent Kerry Sanders said that Inside Edition has paid the building's landlord $1,000 to access the home.[115] MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News all broadcast live video from the home, showing images of personal photographs, documents, identification cards, and baby items.[116]The scene was described as having a "media circus" atmosphere.[111][117][118] Sanders, in particular, was criticized for showing close-up images of children's photographs and Farook's mother's identification card; the network later said it regretted doing so.[115][119] According to legal experts, the landlord and the media broke no laws.[111] However, the incident did raise concerns of journalistic ethics.[111] The Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple wrote that the media's behavior was "terrible" and opined that "this was a story poorly suited to live coverage, without the time and ability to document a scene, determine what's relevant and provide the filtered product to readers."[119] Al Tompkins of The Poynter Institute for Media Studies said that the decision to enter the apartment was "ludicrous" and critiqued the "callous and competitive behavior" of the media on a grave story.[118]
Aftermath
After the shooting, classes were canceled at California State University, San Bernardino,[120] and at Loma Linda University following a bomb threat that was called in to the university's medical center, where many injured victims were being treated.[120] James Ramos, chairman of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, said that most county offices would be closed the remainder of the week, with only the most essential services remaining open.[121] The San Bernardino Department of Public Health announced that all county offices would be closed through December 7.[122]President Obama ordered U.S. flags to be flown at half-staff at the White House, public buildings, military installations, Navy ships, embassies and diplomatic missions.[123] The governors of several states also ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff in their states as well.[124][125][126] In California, the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony at the State Capitol was canceled and all flags were lowered to half-staff.[120][127]
American Muslim organizations, including CAIR and Islamic Society of Orange County, condemned the attacks.[128] A night vigil was held the day after the attacks at the largest mosque in the San Bernardino County, the Ahmadiyya Baitul Hameed Mosque.[129][130][131]
About 2,000 local residents gathered at a candlelight vigil at San Manuel Stadium in downtown San Bernardino the day after the attack. At the vigil, Mayor R. Carey Davis praised the first responders, said that the tragedy "has forever impacted our community," and talked about how the community had come together following the attack.[132][133]
Twelve of the dead were members of the Service Employees International Union, so SEIU president Mary Kay Henry said, "Our hearts are broken from this tragedy.... We will unite to demand that our nation does everything possible to ensure that no more families have to feel this pain, sadness and loss ever again."[134]
On December 5 responding to the killings in San Bernardino and elsewhere, The New York Times editorial board wrote that, "it is a moral outrage and a national disgrace that civilians can legally purchase weapons designed specifically to kill people with brutal speed and efficiency" and called for greater regulation of guns and ammunition[135] in the first front-page editorial it had published in 95 years.[136][137]
Political reactions
California Governor Jerry Brown said, "Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims' families and everyone affected by the brutal attack."[120]President Barack Obama said, "There are some steps we could take—not to eliminate every one of these mass shootings—but to improve the odds that they don't happen as frequently," mentioning "common-sense gun safety laws" and "stronger background checks" as examples. He called for bipartisan cooperation to reduce the frequency of such shootings in the U.S.[138] In an interview with CBS News' Norah O'Donnell, Obama said: "We have a pattern now of mass shootings in this country that has no parallel anywhere else in the world."[139] Obama called for legislation to block people on the anti-terrorism No Fly List from purchasing weapons.[139] Speaker of the House Paul Ryan opposed this proposal, saying that denying persons on the list the right to bear arms would violate their due process rights.[140] Neither of the suspects were on the "No Fly List."[87]
The White House announced that President Obama would make an 8 p.m. EST address to the nation on December 6, providing an update into the investigation of the San Bernardino attack and the "broader threat of terrorism." This would mark the third speech from the Oval Office in the seven years of Obama's presidency.[141]
After the shooting, some Democrats sought to tighten federal gun-control regulations, "laying blame on a culture that allows even people who are not permitted to board airplanes to buy guns with ease," while some Republicans criticized what they believe to be "the Obama administration's unwillingness to come to terms with the true threat posed by Muslim extremists."[142] Members of the California State Legislature also proposed to revisit some gun-control proposals that had previously stalled, with one assemblyman proposing a prohibition of the sale of guns to those on a federal "no-fly" list.[86]
Pakistani Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said the Pakistani government will continue to offer "all possible legal assistance" to the U.S. in the investigation, and that "[no] sane Pakistani or Muslim could even think about doing such acts, and only few people are using the name of Islam for their wrongdoings, which is defaming our religion. Such heinous acts also lead to serious difficulties for millions of Muslims who live in Western and other countries, and the extremists and nationalist elements in those societies look at Muslims with suspicions. Islamophobia is being spread around the world. What the terrorists are doing has nothing to do with Islam."[143]
Notes
- CNN's Anderson Cooper called the scene "bizarre" during the network's live broadcast.[114]
References
- "San Bernardino investigation targets man thought to have bought 2 weapons". The Washington Post. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
External links
Categories:
- 2015 in California
- 2015 mass shootings in the United States
- 2015 murders in the United States
- Terrorist incidents in the United States in 2015
- Terrorist incidents in California
- Deaths by firearm in California
- History of San Bernardino, California
- ISIL-inspired terror attacks in the United States
- Mass murder in 2015
- Massacres in the United States
- Murder in California
- Workplace violence
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