N BERNARDINO: California gunman Syed Rizwan Farook had been in contact with known Islamic extremists on social media, a US intelligence official said on Thursday, and police said he and his wife had enough bullets and bombs to slaughter hundreds when they launched their deadly attack on a holiday party.
The details emerged as investigators tried to determine whether the rampage that left 14 people dead was terrorism, a workplace grudge or some combination.
The husband-and-wife killers were not under FBI scrutiny before the massacre, said a second US official, who likewise was not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Wearing black tactical gear and wielding assault rifles, Farook, a 28-year-old county restaurant inspector, and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, 27, sprayed as many as 75 rounds into a room at a social service center for the disabled, where about 75 of Farook's co-workers had gathered Wednesday morning. Farook had attended the event but slipped out and returned in battle dress.
Four hours later and two miles away, the couple died in a furious gunbattle in which they fired 76 rounds, while 23 law officers unleashed about 380, police said.
On Thursday, Police Chief Jarrod Burguan offered a grim inventory that suggested Wednesday's bloodbath could have been far worse.
At the social service center, the couple left three rigged-together pipe bombs with a remote-control detonating device that apparently malfunctioned, and they had more than 1,600 rounds of ammunition remaining when police killed them in their rented SUV, Burguan said.
At a family home in the nearby town of Redlands, they had 12 pipe bombs, tools for making more, and over 3,000 additional rounds of ammunition, the chief said.
"We don't know if this was workplace rage or something larger or a combination of both," Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in Washington, echoing President Barack Obama. "We don't know the motivation."
Investigators are trying to determine whether Farook, who was Muslim, became radicalized — and, if so, how (Koran initially) — as well as whether he was in contact with any foreign terrorist organization, said the US intelligence official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The same official said Farook had been in touch on social media with extremists who were under FBI scrutiny.
The second US official said the FBI was treating the attack as a potential act of terror but had reached no conclusion that it was. The official said Farook's contacts online did not involve any significant players the FBI knew of and dated back some time, with there was no immediate indication of a recent surge in communication.
The official cautioned that such contact by itself doesn't mean someone is a terrorist.
READ ALSO:Pak-origin couple kills 14 in California carnage
Well one wonders what excuse ou warped DUD will conjure up now and Obama as well.
Trump has taken Obama to task asking why he cant say islamic terrorism. He suggest something more is at play.


