From Westernized Daughter of a Rich Family to Burka-wearing Jihadi Bride

Split from relatives preceded Tashfeen Malik’s transformation into a ‘radicalized’ killer who swore allegiance to ISIS as she murdered 14

By Kelly Mclaughlin and Snejana Farberov and Khaleda Rahman

 

New details have emerged about the radicalization of a Pakistani woman who along with her American husband killed 14 people in San Bernadino California and pledged allegiance to ISIS.

Tashfeen Malik who moved to the US last year when she married Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, had spent most of her life in Saudi Arabia and relatives say she became more conservative about her Muslim faith three years ago.

Relatives of Malik in Pakistan who are estranged from their wealthy family members who live in Saudi Arabia said that she used to wear Western-style clothing but later switched to more traditional garments such as a burka, which covers the the entire body.

'I recently heard it from relatives that she has become a religious person and she often tells people to live according to the teachings of Islam,' Hifza Batool, 35, said of his step-niece, whose age is either 27 or 29.

Saudi Arabia requires the wearing of a hijab, but does not mandate burkas. Pakistan, where Malik returned to study at Bahuddin Zakri University in Multan, does not have a dress code for women.

Batool said that he had not ever actually met Malik because, 'Tashfreen Malik's parents are rich and we are poor and they don't like to meet with their poor relatives'.

Investigators looking into the attack at the San Bernadino disability center where Malik and her husband opened fire are now looking into the massacre as an act of terrorism.

Terrorist group ISIS announced in an online radio broadcast that two of their followers had carried out the attack in San Bernardino on Wednesday before dying in a shootout with police.

‘Two followers of Islamic State attacked several days ago a center in San Bernardino in California,’ the group’s daily broadcast al-Bayan said.

US government sources have said that there is no evidence the attack was directed by the militant group, or that the organization even knew who the attackers were.  

How the couple became radicalized enough to open fire at a holiday party for San Bernadino County employees is still unknown, though some suspect that Malik may have pushed her husband towards extremism. 

According to Fox News, it is believed that on at least one of Farook's two trips to Saudi Arabia in 2013 and 2014, one or both of the spouses reached out to suspected members of al Qaeda. 

The LA Times reported that police sources said Farook also had some form of contact Al Nusra Front, an Al-Qaeda backed group in Syria, as well as al Shabaab in Somalia.

 

Sources have told Daily Mail Online that US officials communicated with their Pakistani counterparts about connections between Malik and the Red Mosque in Islamabad, which is known for radicalism.

It was at the center of a bloody siege in 2007 as fundamentalists clashed with security forces for eight days. 

Last year the mosque's preacher Maulana Abdul Aziz told a Pakistani newspaper that he supported the mission of ISIS, though he had no connections to the terror group. 

The FBI said that neither member of the couple were on terrorist watchlists, and a source close to the Saudi government told ABC News that officials in the kingdom were also not monitoring Malik.

Malik came to the United States in July 2014 on a Pakistani passport and a fiancée visa, authorities said. She and Farook were married in California that August. 

To get the visa, immigrants submit to an interview and biometric and background checks - screening intended to identify anyone who might pose a threat. 

At a press conference on Friday the attorneys representing the couple's family, Mohammad Abuershaid and Daniel Chesley, revealed that the Muslim couple met through a marriage and dating website some time in 2013.

They shed further insight into Malik's life saying that she wore a burka, didn't speak to male relatives and her in-laws had never seen her face.   

Abuershaid said that family members saw Malik as a 'very private', soft-spoken and caring housewife. He added that Malik spoke broken English.

'They were very traditional. When family would come over, the women would sit with the women and the men would sit with the men, so the men had never spoken to her,' Abuershaid said. '[Malik] wore a burka, so she was never seen by the men.' 

He said that very little is known about Malik and her family, who are believed to be in Saudi Arabia. 

'She was a very, very private person. She kept herself isolated and she was very conservative,' Chelsey added. 'Because everyone knows so little, she's easy to pin things to.'

Malik studied to be a pharmacist in Pakistan, but did not work in the field in the United States, where she instead lived as a housewife with she and Farook's six-month-old baby.

She also chose not to drive voluntarily, Abuershaid said. 

When their baby was born six months ago, the couple decided to name her according to the Arab convention rather than the traditional Pakistani way. 

They reportedly told Farook's mother that they were headed to a doctor's appointment when they left the child with her before the attack. 

The attorney added that Farook's mother lived in the upstairs area of the couple's home and did not have knowledge of the planned attack on Wednesday.

The FBI announced Friday that it is investigating the mass shooting as an act of terrorism but said they did not believe the Muslim couple were part of a larger plot or members of a terror cell.

If the investigation confirms those initial suspicions, the attack would be the deadliest inspired by Islamic extremism on US soil since September 11.

While authorities did not cite specific evidence that led them to the terrorism focus, a US law enforcement official said that Malik, had under a Facebook alias pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and its leader al-Baghdadi.

A Facebook official said Malik praised Islamic State in a post at 11am Wednesday, around the time the couple stormed the Inland Regional Center where staff were enjoying a holiday party and opened fire. The profile was quickly removed from public view and its contents reported to law enforcement.

David Bowdich, assistant director of the FBI's Los Angeles office, said on Friday that the shooters attempted to destroy evidence, including crushing two cell phones and discarding them in a trash can.

 The FBI chief also had established that there were 'telephonic connections' between the couple and other people of interest in FBI probes. 

He said of the possibility that Malik radicalized her American husband, 'I don’t know the answer, whether she influenced him or not. Being a husband myself, we’re all influenced to an extent. But I don’t know the answer'.  

Meanwhile friends have revealed that they knew Farook by his quick smile, his devotion to Islam and his talk about restoring cars. 

Farook was born in Chicago on June 14, 1987, to parents born in Pakistan. He was raised in Southern California. 

Those around him say they didn't know he was busy with his wife building pipe bombs and stockpiling thousands of rounds of ammunition for the assault on Farook's colleagues from San Bernardino County's health department.

Speaking at the Dar Al Uloom Al Islamiyah-Amer mosque, where Farook worshipped, assistant teacher Roshan Abassi said that Malik 'dressed modestly and didn't show her face'.

'He [Farook] hasn't come to our mosque for a while, it's been around a month,' Abassi said 'Even if she [Malik] would come, I couldn't see her because she was modestly dressed, she didn't show her face.'

He said he had spent some time speaking with Farook but claimed conversation was limited to pleasantries.

'He would say hello, how are you, what's up, what are your future goals,' he explained.

Fellow worshipper Nasser Shehata said he spoke to Farook regularly and described him as 'very quiet and shy'. 

'He worked in the area but he lived in Riverside,' he said. 'He was a very quiet person, on the shy side. He prayed and he would leave.

'Two years [ago] he went to Saudi Arabia and married his wife but he didn't get radicalized there.

'Six months ago, he was very happy when his daughter was born and he looked forward to having a life with his daughter. Something changed in the last six months.' 

Nizaaam Ali, an acquaintance of Farook, told CNN that Farook never spoke of Malik and rarely spoke of their child - not even announcing the baby's birth. 

Ali said Farook would come for the noon prayer each day during his lunch break from work.

'He was such a sweet young man,' Ali told CNN. 'Everyone who knew him always talked so highly of him. Until today. To try and understand this, it's really difficult for us.' 

Ali was one of the 300 people that attended the wedding of Farook and Malik in August 2014 at the mosque.

However he said Farook 'never' brought his wife him to pray, because he would come from work, and when Ali did see Malik, she was always completely covered by a niqab.

'I wouldn't have been able to tell the color of her eyes even,' Ali told CNN. 'Was she skinny, was she fit? I don't know. I never saw her. (Farook) never described her. He never said anything about her.' 

At this stage in the investigation, officials say it appears the couple were inspired by ISIS, rather than expressly ordered to carry out the attacks.

Some investigators believe Malik and Farook were self-radicalized, but it is also possible that someone may have motivated them.  

Malik was from the Layyah district in southern Punjab province, the officials said. 

She had two brothers and two sisters and was related to Ahmed Ali Aulak, a former provincial minister.

After living in Saudi Arabia, she returned to Pakistan five or six years ago to complete a degree from Bahauddin Zakariya University in Multan.

An online transcript from Bahauddin Zakariya University uncovered by Daily Mail Online on Friday shows Malik scored 74.88 out of 100 on one of her pharmacy exams. 

She was also listed as being in the fourth year of a D Pharm degree in 2014, although she may not have completed it. 

One of Malik's uncles, Javed Rabbani, said Malik's father, Gulzar, changed while the family was living in Saudi Arabia.

'When relatives visited him, they would come back and tell us how conservative and hard-line he had become,' Rabbani said in an interview with Reuters. 

The father had built a house in Multan, where he stays when he visits Pakistan, according to another uncle, Malik Anwaar. 

He said Gulzar had a falling-out long ago with the rest of the family, citing a dispute over a house among other matters. 'We are completely estranged,' Anwaar said. 

Rabbani said he had been contacted by Pakistani intelligence as part of the investigation into the San Bernardino shooting. 

Christian Nwadike, a co-worker of Farook's at the San Bernardino County health department, told CBS This Morning that the mild-mannered man was different upon his return from Saudi Arabia last year.  

When asked if he believed Farook may have been radicalized, Nwadike replied: 'Yes, by the wife. I think he married a terrorist.' 

Nwadike said told CNN that he believes Farook was 'set up' to commit the massacre through his marriage to Malik.

Another friend from the mosque, Abdul Aziz Ahmed, also said Farook stopped attending the mosque following his wedding, and said his radical behavior was completely out of character.

'He was looking good, he seemed good (after returning from Saudi Arabia),' Ahmed told CNN. 'But then he disappeared (after the wedding).'

Ahmed, like many who knew Farook, are struggling to understand his actions.

'He came to the mosque every day for two years. How can this happen, a guy who was very good?' Ahmed said. 'You didn't hear him talking about those mad men, these terrorists.' 

In July 2010, Farook was hired as a seasonal public employee and served until December of that year, according to a work history supplied by San Bernardino County. In January 2012, he was rehired as a trainee environmental health specialist before being promoted two years later.

Farook's older sister, Saira Khan said that when she first saw the news broadcast that identified her brother and his wife as the suspected gunman, that she thought they had 'the wrong person'.

She said in a sit-down interview with MSNBC that she went through phases of 'shock' and disbelief' that her 'introvert' brother would do such a thing.

'I had absolutely no idea that they were involved in anything like that, or that they were even capable of doing something like this,' Khan said. 

She added that her government-worker brother who opened fire at a holiday party was far from the brother that she knew.

'The brother I grew up with, the shy introvert, kept-to-himself, quiet kid that we knew, grew up and got married,' she said.

As for Farook's wife, however, Khan said she didn't know much about Malik or her past.

'His wife was recently here. She was only here for two years,' Khan told MSNBC. 'We didn't really know her that well.'

She added, however, that she never saw anything that would suggest that they could be radicalized. 

Khan said in separate interview with CBS News this morning that it was 'mind-boggling' to her that her brother and his wife would do something like this.

Her husband, Farhan Khan, tearfully said that he was having a hard time forgiving his brother-in-law for the carnage he caused. 

He also said they begun the legal process to adopt Farook and Malik's orphaned baby daughter, who is currently with Child Protective Services. 

Friday's press conference came just hours after Malik and Farook's home was thrown open to the media, exposing smaller details of the lives they led before the attack

The home revealed scores of family trinkets and toys that would have sat among boxes of ammunition and pipe bombs before the massacre.

The couple's home is filled with family photographs, Qurans and other books on Islam in what appeared to be a normal suburban family residence.

Their landlord invited members of the media to tour their rental home in Redlands, California.

Among the photos found in the two-story town house are a series of young women and a California State University identity card belonging to Farook.

Family members knew that Farook owned guns, but believed he kept them locked up, Abuershaid said, adding that the Farook's family is in complete shock.

Journalists were let into the home after FBI investigators had collected all the evidence they needed and turned the apartment back over to its owner. 

Federal agents have been combing through cellphones and a computer hard drive left behind by the couple in the home to try to establish a motive for the killings.

When asked to explain possible motivations for the attack, Chesley said at the news conference on Friday that co-workers made fun of Farook for his beard and said he was isolated with few friends.

Abuershaid and Chesley said the family was shocked by the attack and saw no signs that the couple would be aggressive or had extreme views.

The attorneys said they sat through four hours of questioning with Farook's family members by the FBI and said nothing was found that showed the family knew of the attacks.

There was nothing linking this to religion or terrorist activity,' Chesley said. 'They're the FBI and they're damn good at receiving this information.'

Chesley claimed that the FBI kept Farook's mother in custody until the rest of her children came in for questioning. 

Both Chesley and Abuershaid said they had seen the FBI's evidence and are not convinced the pair were directly linked to foreign terror groups. 

Instead they accused investigators, journalists and the public of jumping to assumptions because the couple were Muslim.

In a bizarre remark, Chesley said: 'All there is thus far [to indicate terrorism] is this nebulous thing that somebody looked at something on Facebook.

'I mean any one of us can look at something on Facebook, it doesn't mean we believe in it. I've checked out a Britney Spears post, and I hate Britney Spears' music.' 

Chesley said: 'When a Christian goes to shoot up a Planned Parenthood or an extreme Catholic goes and bombs an abortion clinic, all the headlines do not say "extremist radical Christian, Catholic, Christian, Catholic"... just like right now every headline is saying Muslim.

'There is a tendency to take a cookie cutter version or paradigm of a terrorist type event and superimpose it on a situation just because that person is of Muslim belief or Muslim tradition.

'I do not think we should jump to too many conclusions in particular because I think we need to protect the Muslim community.'

In fact, it is believed that Planned Parenthood shooting suspect Robert Lewis Dear, 57, was an evangelical Christian, rather than a Catholic. 

Challenged over the remarks by journalists who pointed out that it was the FBI themselves who announced their investigation is linked to terrorism, Abuershaid hit back.

He said: 'I think every investigation the FBI does when it's involving a Muslim will involve some kind of terrorist investigation.'

The attorneys said the FBI will continue their investigation through Monday and Tuesday.  

'[Motive] has been very hidden. I guess we're all wanting justice, and we're all wanting to know anyone affiliated with [the attack]. We need to be protective and respectful of everyone's freedom of religion,' Chesley said, suggesting that this could be a case of a disgruntled worker. 

Chesley noted the number of bullets found in the couple's home, and said that as a gun owner, this was not unusual.

'As Americans, we all want to protect one another and live in a safe and secure society,' he said. 'As a gun owner, I probably have at least 4,000 or 5,000 rounds of bullets in my house.' 

But Comey noted there's still 'a lot evidence that doesn't quite make sense'.

Farook and Malik had illegally modified their two AR-style rifles making it easier to kill a large number of people, officials revealed today.

Meredith Davis, with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said that while the weapons were purchased legally, they had undergone a number of illegal adjustments afterwards.

One of the weapons had been modified to allow it to fire on fully-automatic mode, while the other was fitted with a large magazine and had the 'bullet button' removed to allow for quicker reloading. 

California law bans the sale of weapons with magazines holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition, but it is not known how many bullets the weapons used in this week's attack could hold.

The adjustments mean the rifles, a .223 caliber Smith & Wesson M&P 15 and a .223 caliber DPMS A-15, would violate California's ban on assault weapons, Davis told the Wall Street Journal.

The state has some of the toughest gun control laws in America, allowing the sale of handguns and assault-style rifles, but banning the sale of fully-automatic weapons.

All rifles sold in the state must also be fitted with a 'bullet button' - meaning the magazine must be removed by using the tip of a bullet to trip the release mechanism, rather than a quick-release catch.

In total, Farook and Malik were carrying four guns - the two rifles and two semi-automatic handguns - and were in possession of 12 pipe bombs and around 4,500 rounds of ammunition. 

President Obama used his weekly address on Saturday to highlight the need for the country to crack down on gun laws. 

‘We know that the kills in San Bernardino used military-style assault weapons – weapons of war – to kill as many people as they could,’ he said.

‘It’s another tragic reminder that here in America it’s way too easy for dangerous people to get their hands on a gun.’

He added: ‘Right now, people on the No-Fly list can walk into a store and buy a gun. That is insane.

‘If you’re too dangerous to board a plane, you’re too dangerous, by definition, to buy a gun.’  

Mr Obama insisted that the United States ‘will not be terrorized’ and renewed his call for tighter gun control measures, in a weekly address that focused on the deadly shooting.

Mr Obama vowed that investigators would ‘get to the bottom’ of how and why the rampage occurred.

‘It is entirely possible that these two attackers were radicalized to commit this act of terror,’ he said.

‘We know that ISIL and other terrorist groups are actively encouraging people – around the world and in our country – to commit terrible acts of violence, often times as lone wolf actors.

‘All of us – government, law enforcement, communities, faith leaders – need to work together to prevent people from falling victim to these hateful ideologies.’