Police: 12 pipe bombs found at home of suspects in San Bernardino mass shooting

ByEyewitness News WABC logo
Friday, December 4, 2015
First officer at San Bernardino shooting: 'unspeakable' carnage
NJ Burkett has more from San Bernardino.

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (WABC) -- On Thursday, hundreds gathered for a vigil a local baseball stadium in San Bernardino to mourn the victims, and themselves.





This comes as police have increased the number wounded in a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, to 21, and released details about how the shooting was carried out. They also released new photos from the scene of the shooting, as well as weapons and ammunition carried out by the suspect.





Here are the new details released by police Thursday:


- The first officer on the scene of a deadly shooting at a holiday party in California described seeing unspeakable carnage and "pure panic" on the faces of the injured.


- During their investigation, investigators found 12 pipe bombs at home searched after the killings.


- Police said the suspects -- identified as 28-year-old Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife or fiancee, Tashfeen Malik, 27 -- fired 65 to 75 rounds from rifles at the scene in San Bernardino. The duo had 1,600 rounds available in total.


- Police confirm all 4 guns used in shooting were legally purchased. Two were purchased by the shooter.


- The suspects rented the black SUV.


- Investigators have not arrived at a motive for the mass shooting.


- Law enforcement fired more than 350 rounds at the end of the pursuit.


- Police said there was some level of sophistication in how the attack was carried out.


- The third person seen running from the scene was questioned by police, but was determined to not be involved.


- FBI said the suspects had a baby together. He was US born, she was in the U.S. on K-1 visa under a Pakistani passport.



The two attackers who killed 14 people in a rampage at a banquet fired as many as 75 rifle rounds at the scene, left behind three rigged-together pipe bombs with a remote-control device that apparently malfunctioned, and had over 1,600 more bullets with them when they were gunned down in their SUV, authorities said Thursday.



At their home, they had 12 pipe bombs, tools for making more explosives, and over 3,000 rounds of ammunition, Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said in a grim morning-after inventory that suggested Wednesday's bloodbath could have been far worse.



Wearing military-style gear and wielding assault rifles, Syed Rizwan Farook, a 28-year-old county restaurant inspector, and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, 27, slaughtered 14 and wounded 17 in the attack at a social service center shortly after he slipped away from an employee banquet he was attending there.



The couple were shot to death about four hours later and a few miles away in a furious gun battle with police.



RELATED: Who were the suspects in San Bernardino attack and what was the motive?



As the FBI took over the investigation, authorities were trying to learn why the couple left behind their 6-month-old daughter and went on the rampage - the nation's deadliest mass shooting since the Newtown, Connecticut, school tragedy three years ago that left 26 children and adults dead.



"There was obviously a mission here. We know that. We do not know why. We don't know if this was the intended target or if there was something that triggered him to do this immediately," said David Bowdich, assistant director of the FBI's Los Angeles office.



PHOTOS: Scene of mass shooting at San Bernardino social services facility




At the White House, President Barack Obama said after meeting with his national security team that it was "possible this was terrorist-related" but that authorities were unsure. He raised the possibility that it was a workplace dispute or that mixed motives were at play.



Law enforcement experts said investigators may well conclude the killers had more than one motivation.



Eyewitness News reporter N.J. Burkett is reporting from San Bernardino:




Farook was born in the U.S. to a Pakistani family, was raised in Southern California and had been a San Bernardino County employee for five years, according to authorities and acquaintances. Authorities said Malik came to the U.S. on a Pakistani passport in July 2014.



Police and federal agents for a second day searched a home in neighboring Redlands, about 7 miles from the massacre at the Inland Regional Center. Investigators didn't immediately say if the couple had lived there. Public records show it may be the home of a Farook family member.



Residents told KABC-TV Redlands is a sleepy town and expressed shock that the killers might be their neighbors.



The attackers invaded the center about 60 miles east of Los Angeles around 11 a.m., opening fire in a conference area county health officials had rented for an employee banquet. Farook attended the banquet, then left and returned with murderous intent.



Federal authorities said the two assault rifles and two handguns used in the violence had been bought legally, but they did not say how and when they got into the attackers' hands.



Co-worker Patrick Baccari said he was sitting at the same table as Farook, who suddenly disappeared. Baccari said that when the shooting started, he took refuge in a bathroom and suffered minor wounds from shrapnel slicing through the wall.



The shooting lasted about five minutes, he said, and when he looked in the mirror he realized he was bleeding.



"If I hadn't been in the bathroom, I'd probably be laying dead on the floor," he said.



Baccari described Farook as reserved and said he showed no signs of unusual behavior. Earlier this year, he traveled to Saudi Arabia, was gone for about a month and returned with a wife, later growing a beard, Baccari said.



The couple dropped off their daughter with relatives Wednesday morning, saying they had a doctor's appointment, Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said after talking with family.



"We don't know the motives. Is it work, rage-related? Is it mental illness? Is it extreme ideology? At this point, it's really unknown to us, and at this point it's too soon to speculate," Ayloush said.



Co-workers told the Los Angeles Times that Farook was a devout Muslim but didn't talk about religion at work.



Farhan Khan, who is married to Farook's sister, told reporters that he last spoke to his brother-in-law about a week ago. Khan condemned the violence and said he had "absolutely no idea" why Farook would kill.



Seventeen people were wounded, according to authorities. As of Thursday morning, two patients were listed in critical condition.



About four hours after the late-morning carnage, police hunting for the killers riddled a black SUV with gunfire in a shootout 2 miles from the social services center in this Southern California city of 214,000 people.



During the shootout, the couple fired 76 rounds, while law enforcement officers unleashed about 380, the police chief said.



Federal authorities said the two assault rifles and two handguns used in the violence had been bought legally, but they did not say how and when they got into the attackers' hands.



Stay with abc7NY for the latest on this developing story.

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