The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Friday that it is now investigating the Wednesday shooting in San Bernardino as a terrorist act.
“We are now investigating these horrific acts as an act of terrorism,” said David Bowdich, assistant FBI director in Los Angeles. “There’s a number of pieces of evidence that has essentially pushed us off the cliff to say we are now investigating this as an act of terrorism.”
Bowdich’s comments came just a day after President Obama said it wasn’t yet clear if the shooting, which left 14 dead plus the two shooters, was possibly an act of workplace violence. Just before Bowdich addressed the press, White House spokesman Josh Earnest declined to comment on the case and said the FBI would be making an announcement soon on the status of the case.
Bowdich said the investigation turned into a terrorism probe after it became clear that the shooters, Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik, had made extensive preparations for their attack.
“We have… uncovered evidence that has led us to learn of extensive planning, obviously we uncovered evidence of explosives, multiple armaments,” he said.
“We have also uncovered evidence that these subjects… attempted to destroy their digital fingerprints,” he added. “For example, we found two cell phones in a nearby trashcan. Those cell phones were actually crushed. We have retained those cell phones, and we do continue to exploit the data from those cell phones.”
“We do hope that the digital fingerprints that were left by these two individuals will take us toward their motivation,” Bowdich said.
FBI Director James Comey said later there were no signs the couple was part of a larger terrorist group or cell.
When asked whether the FBI was investigating whether a second attack was being planned in the area, Bowdich said that’s a “possibility we’re looking at.” But he and other law enforcement officers said for now, they have no evidence that San Bernardino is at risk of more violence.
Bowdich declined to say whether the attack was the first one staged by the Islamic State on U.S. soil, and said that while the Islamic State has claimed responsibility, the FBI isn’t ready to confirm that.
Bowdich spoke after reporters from several networks gained access to the home of the suspected terrorist shooters. But he indicated that the FBI no longer had control over that property after it conducted a search Thursday night.
“We executed a search warrant on that apartment, and last night we turned that over back to the residents. Once the residents have the apartment and we’re not in it anymore, we don’t control it,” he said.
Bowdich said the FBI has set up a national hotline that people can call in to offer advice. That number is 1-800-CALL-FBI, or 1-800-225-5324.
