Who Are Syed Farook And Tashfeed Malik, San Bernardino Shooting Suspects?

Syed Farook and his wife Tashfeed Malik are believed to have been the shooters who killed 14 people in San Bernardino, Calif., Wednesday afternoon.

Shooters Syed Farook & Tashfeed Malik Lives Investigated

Farook, 28, was reportedly in attendance at a holiday party held for San Bernardino County’s public health department at the Inland Regional center yesterday. At one point, Farook, an inspector for the county, left the party. When he came back, he was armed with firearms and reportedly accompanied by Malik, 27, reported the Los Angeles Times.

Some reports suggest that Farook, who had worked for San Bernardino County for the last five years, had a dispute with a fellow holiday party attendee prior to leaving. San Bernardino Police have yet to confirm whether or not such a confrontation took place, or what Farook’s motive was for the shooting.

Farook was known by his coworkers as a polite young man, who mostly kept to himself. Within the last year, Farook, who was born in America, traveled to Saudi Arabia and returned with Malik as his wife after meeting her online. Farook and Maleek were parents to an infant daughter.

It was clear to Farook’s colleagues that he was a devout Muslim, though he did not often discuss his religion at the workplace. There was never any hint that he held extremist views.

“He never struck me as a fanatic, he never struck me as suspicious,” coworker Griselda Reisinger told The Times. “I would say hi and bye, but we never engaged him in conversation. He didn’t say much at all.”

Also blindsided by Farook’s murderous spree is his brother-in-law Farhad Kahn, who had known him for much of his life. “I cannot express how sad I am,” he said at an Islamic Center in Anaheim. “I have no idea why he would do that…. I am in shock that something like this would happen…. My condolences to the people who lost their life.”

When Farook returned to the Inland Regional Center with Malik, they were both clad head-to-toe in black and had donned black face masks. Upon entering the room in which the party was being held, the two shooters fired bullets at random. After reloading once, the husband and wife duo fled the building in a black SUV.

Hours after the massacre, Farook and Malik were cornered by police on a residential street in San Bernardino. After a tense shootout, both were gunned down. One police officer was injured in the firefight.

The San Bernardino shooting left 14 dead and 17 injured. It was at least the 355th mass shooting in the United States in 2015, according to the group Stop Handgun Violence.