Tashfeen Malik and the 2015 San Bernardino Massacre
Background
Tashfeen Malik was one of the two perpetrators responsible for the December 2, 2015, terrorist attack at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California. Malik and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, entered a gathering of San Bernardino County employees and opened fire, killing 14 people and seriously wounding 22 others. The massacre was one of the deadliest terrorist attacks carried out in the United States during the years following September 11, 2001.
Malik was born on July 13, 1986, in Pakistan and spent part of her childhood and young adulthood in Saudi Arabia. She later studied pharmacology at Bahauddin Zakariya University in Multan, Pakistan. Malik met Farook through an online matrimonial service. Farook, an American citizen born in Chicago on June 14, 1987, was employed as an environmental health specialist by the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health.
Farook traveled to Saudi Arabia in 2014, where he and Malik married. Malik entered the United States in July 2014 on a fiancée visa and later became a lawful permanent resident. The couple lived in Redlands, California, and had an infant daughter. Their outwardly ordinary domestic life concealed their increasing commitment to violent extremist ideology.
Radicalization and Preparation
Federal investigators concluded that Malik and Farook had become radicalized before Malik entered the United States. Private electronic communications indicated that they discussed jihad, martyrdom and violent extremism with one another. Investigators found no evidence that a foreign terrorist organization directly ordered or supervised the San Bernardino attack. The couple instead appeared to have been inspired by extremist propaganda and to have planned the violence themselves.
Before the massacre, Malik and Farook assembled a substantial collection of firearms, ammunition and bomb-making materials. Their weapons included two .223-caliber semiautomatic rifles modeled after the AR-15, along with two 9mm semiautomatic pistols. The rifles had originally been purchased by Farook's friend and former neighbor, Enrique Marquez Jr., before being illegally transferred to Farook.
The couple also constructed pipe bombs and accumulated thousands of rounds of ammunition. Investigators later recovered additional firearms, explosive components and twelve pipe-bomb-type devices from their Redlands residence. The quantity of weapons and supplies suggested that Malik and Farook may have expected to survive the initial shooting or had considered additional violence.
The Inland Regional Center Gathering
On the morning of December 2, 2015, approximately 80 employees of the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health gathered in a rented conference room at the Inland Regional Center at 1365 South Waterman Avenue in San Bernardino. The center provided services to people with developmental disabilities, but the gathering involved county employees attending a training session and holiday celebration.
Farook attended the event as an employee. During the morning, he left the gathering under circumstances that did not initially cause alarm. He later returned with Malik. Both had changed into dark tactical clothing and were carrying rifles, pistols, ammunition magazines and other equipment.
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