Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the two terrorists responsible for killing 14 people in last week’s San Bernardino shootings, practiced shooting his own weapons at a local gun range on two separate occasions the week of the attack, the FBI said in a Monday afternoon news conference.
Law enforcement confirmed Farook spent several hours each day, Nov. 20 and 30, at the Riverside Magnum Shooting Range in Riverside, Calif, approximately 25 miles from the couple’s Redlands residence. He practiced on an AR-15 and a handgun.
“Yes, we do have evidence that both of these subjects participated in target practice,” David Bowdich, assistant director of the FBI’s Los Angeles office, stated Monday.
Officials also confirmed Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik had practiced dry-firing, or pulling the trigger of an unloaded gun, in the backyard of another southern California home.
The FBI said last week that several factors are leading it to believe the attack was planned, which puts it more in the realm of a terrorist attack. After the FBI’s decision to classify it as a terrorist investigation, President Obama declared Sunday night that the attack was a form of terrorism.
