The San Bernardino shooting may have been planned for months based on the heavy artillery found in the Muslim newlyweds’ home. By now, everyone with access to the Internet and social media has probably heard about the horrific shooting that claimed the lives of 14 victims and left another 17 victims severely wounded. But, there’s one aspect of the shooting that isn’t clear – why it happened in the first place. As the Federal Bureau of Investigation continues to search for a possible motive, a number of discoveries have been made.
According to the Daily Mail , the suspects – identified as “devout” Muslim newlyweds , Syed Farook, 28, and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, 27 – may have been planning the attack for months. This morning, the San Bernardino shooters’ home was searched, and the disturbing items found have been associated with radicalized terrorism.
Findings in raid of San Bernardino shooters’ home: – 12 pipe bombs – 4,500 bullets – Tools for making explosives https://t.co/42gHSj9IyP
— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) December 3, 2015
FBI agents investigating the San Bernardino shooting reportedly discovered “nearly 5,000 rounds of ammunition and a dozen pipe bombs” inside the home. There were also hundreds of tools that could be used to produce improvised explosive devices and remote control handsets to detonate explosives. A staggering quantity of ammunition was also found. San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan revealed investigators confiscated an “arsenal of ammunition, including 2,000 9mm rounds, another 2,500.223 rounds and several hundred long rifle bullets, along with 12 pipe bombs and tools that could be used to construct IEDs.”
Police say #SanBernadino shooters were extremely well armed https://t.co/JUAKbFqu24
— Bilkisu Labaran (@bilkisulabaran) December 3, 2015
Chief Burguan also cited that the amount of artillery found in the home was actually enough to carry out another massacre, which may have been part of the couple’s initial plan after the San Bernardino shooting. But, although Farook’s home raises suspicions of radicalized terrorism, many people who knew him found the attack quite disturbing because he posed little threat to most people he came in contact with.
“He was very quiet,” Griselda Reisinger, one of Farook’s co-workers, told the LA Times . “I would say hi and bye, but we never engaged him in conversation. He didn’t say much at all.”
The latest report follows a string of other updates about the San Bernardino shooting, which occurred at the Inland Regional Center. Farook and his wife, Malik opened fire on his co-workers that reportedly threw him a baby shower months ago to celebrate the upcoming birth of their child, according to the New York Post .
Dressed in dark, tactical combat gear and masks, the couple is said to have entered a conference room during a San Bernardino County Department of Public Health banquet and fired approximately 76 rifle rounds of ammunition. According to Yahoo! News , Chief Burguan revealed the shooting suspects also left three makeshift pipe bombs and a remote control device that malfunctioned.
“Preliminary information indicates that these were people that came prepared, that they were dressed and equipped in a way to indicate that they were prepared,” Chief Burguan said. And they were armed with long guns, not handguns.” He later added, “They came in with a purpose — they came in with an intent.”
When they were cornered and killed inside a rented SUV after the San Bernardino shooting, local authorities discovered more than 1,600 bullets in their possession. Needless to say, the horrific attack could have probably been much worse if their remote control device hadn’t malfunctioned.
Although many news outlets initially speculated that the San Bernardino shooting could have stemmed from a work-related incident following an argument between Farook and other co-workers, the items found inside the Muslim newlyweds’ home says otherwise. A law enforcement insider reportedly stated that the shooting appears to have been a strategically planned attack.
“This was not a casual workplace argument,” one law enforcement source reportedly told the New York Post . “It’s a well-planned and thought-out attack.”
The investigation into the San Bernardino shooting will be ongoing.
[Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images]