By Kami Klein
San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguen held a press conference late Wednesday night to identify the suspects in the shooting earlier today at Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, CA which caused the deaths of 14 people; 17 were injured. The suspects killed in a shootout with police were identified as Syed Rizwan Farook (28) and Tashfeen Malik (27) . According to a report by CBSN, the two had been married for two years and have a 6 month old daughter.
The U.S. born Syed Rizwan was employed with San Bernardino County as an environmental specialist for the last five years. He had attended a meeting/ party that has been an annual event for the county and reports were that he left angry. It is still unclear what the disagreement was about or with whom.
Chief Burguen says both law enforcement and the FBI feel that although first reports were that there were three suspects, they believe the two that went into the building were the same that were killed in the suspects car and the only shooters.
In an interview with his brother-in-law, CBSN reports that Sayed Riswan and Tashfeen lived in the house in Redlands, CA that is now being investigated and belongs to his mother. Syed is the name he went by for work and in public but the family called him Riswan.
Speaking on a motive for the case Police Chief Burgeun stated.
“We do not have a motive at this time. We understand that when these kinds of things happen, information changes frequently at the beginning of the investigation. We have not ruled out terrorism at this time. But we do not yet know a motive.”
In regards to the crime scenes, Chief Burgeun said that for the last couple of hours they have been working on the explosive devices that have been found.
“We feel that all explosives have been found and disposed of and are just now being able to get in there and process the evidence. Some degree of planning went into this attack.”
Both of the suspects had 223 assault rifles and semi automatic handguns in their possession when the gun battle with police took place.
Chief Burgeun concluded the press conference with a message for his community.
“ We understand that you are scared and concerned but please understand that we are doing everything we can to keep people safe here. If we see a threat we will be sure to communicate that to the community to protect you and your families.”
