Tragedy in San Bernardino
Fourteen civilians are killed in an unexpected shooting in California.
December 2015
Namita Rao '19
What occurred to have turned a county health inspector and a trained pharmacist into terrorists? When, why, and how did this couple take a dark turn so severe that it led to the deaths of fourteen innocent people? Although those fourteen lives cannot be brought back, important questions of this deadly attack at San Bernardino are being investigated.
On December 2nd, 2015, married couple Tashfeen Malik and Syed Rizwan Farook opened fire on a holiday party of about eighty people in a rented banquet room at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California. Fourteen people were killed after this Islamic extremist-inspired terrorist attack, and twenty-two were severely injured. Those unfortunately killed ranged in age from 25-60, and with stories of their loved ones’ heartbreak just as varied. “There's a father whose six children will spend the holidays without him. A new father who was planning a Disneyland trip. An easygoing 27-year-old with sparkling eyes and a quick smile,” lamented Faith Karimi.
|
“Shooters Tashfeen Malik and Syed Rizwan Farook practiced at gun ranges in the Los Angeles area, and on at least one occasion, their target practice occurred within days of the shooting. They were radicalized and have been for quite some time, with sources saying that Tashfeen and the other shooter who opened fire on Wednesday were radicalized at least two years ago. The question for us is how, and by whom, and where,” said David Bowdich, assistant director of the FBI's LA field office. After President Barack Obama called the shooting an act of terrorism in an address delivered from the Oval Office, authorities are sifting through evidence as another important question comes to picture, could anything have been done to impede the plot?
|
“It is possible that they became radicalized and planned and executed the attack on their own,” says Bowdich. Investigators are still trying to find out whether either of them took orders from ISIS or executed the attack themselves in complete support of ISIS, but no evidence of a plot has yet been found. Farook and Malik were referred by ISIS as supporters, but the Islamic State did not claim an intentional operational input or any prior knowledge of the attack. After the incident, the couple was killed in a police shootout.
|
Stunned communities are mourning the victims of the massacre, but they continue to move forward. “The sadness over the attack remains, but San Bernardino will resume its duties, with all government offices open,” says James Ramos, chairman of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors. Fortunately, the injured victims are in stable condition, but the deepest pain is over the victims whom doctors didn’t have the chance to save: "What really bothers me most is that none of the fourteen who perished had a chance.”