Suspects attempted to destroy ‘digital fingerprints’ but Tashfeen Malik allegedly made pledge of allegiance to Isis in a Facebook post on day of the attack 
 
 The San Bernardino shooting that killed 14 people is being investigated as an act of terrorism, the FBI has confirmed, as it emerged that the couple who carried out the attack appear to have had links to Islamic State. 
 
 “As of today, based on the information and the facts that we know … we are now investigating these horrific acts as an act of terrorism,” FBI assistant director David Bowdich told a press conference. 
 
 The move comes after reports that the woman who helped slaughter 14 people in a gun massacre in California pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (Isis). 
 
 
 
 San Bernardino: 'pledge of allegiance' to Isis is no proof of group's involvement Read more 
 
 Tashfeen Malik, 27, swore allegiance to the terror group in a Facebook post on Wednesday, the same day she and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, committed the rampage, US officials said on Friday, according to numerous media reports. 
 
 A Facebook executive said Malik’s online post was made as the attacks began, the Associated Press reported. Law enforcement officials said it could be a “game changer” in the investigation. It is likely to shift political debate over the massacre – the worst mass shooting in the US in three years – from gun control to terrorism, immigration and radical Islam. 
 
 Speaking later in Washington DC, FBI director James Comey said the investigation had been taken on by his agency amid indications of radicalisation by the killers, and because they had been potentially inspired by foreign terrorist organisations. 
 
 Dozens of reporters rush into home of San Bernardino shooting suspects Read more 
 
 However, he said there was “no indication that the killers are part of an organised larger group or form part of a cell. There is no indication that they are part of a network”. 
 
 It has since emerged that Islamic State acknowledged the attacks in a regular radio broadcast, saying they had been carried out by “followers” of the group. “Two followers of Islamic State attacked several days ago a centre in San Bernardino in California, opening fire inside the centre, leading to the deaths of 14 people and wounding more than 20 others” the group’s daily broadcast al-Bayan said, giving information already widely reported. The statement stopped short of a full claim of responsibility. 
 
 The assistant FBI director said that several pieces of evidence “essentially pushed us off the cliff to say we are now investigating this as an act of terrorism”. Bowdich confirmed that the two attackers had attempted to destroy their “digital fingerprints” and that two cellphones had been found, crushed, in a bin near the scene of the shooting. 
 
 He confirmed that evidence was being retrieved from the phones, however, adding there has been “some telephonic connections between at least one of these individuals and other subjects of our investigation”. Bowdich said he knew of contacts made within the US, not overseas, but that the bureau was working with foreign partners to clarify that. 
 
 He also confirmed that he was aware of the Facebook post that had been cited in earlier reports. He said there were no other suspects under arrest, adding that an “acquaintance” who bought two guns on behalf of Farook was so far not under arrest. He said he did not know whether Malik radicalised her husband. “Being a husband myself we’re all influenced to some extent, but I don’t know the answer.” 
 
 The assistant director also expressed concern that the suspects were not on law enforcement radar before the attack. “Of course I’m concerned. We didn’t know. There’s nothing that we’ve seen yet that would’ve triggered us to know.” 
 
 But he added: “Is it possible there may be future arrests? We don’t know. Are there others and are they based in the US, are they outside the US – we don’t know the answer.” 
 
 Malik, who was Pakistani, and Farook, 28, an Illinois-born US citizen and the son of Pakistani immigrants, died in a shootout with police hours after killing 14 people and wounding 21 in the Inland Regional Center social services agency in San Bernardino, about 60 miles (100km) east of Los Angeles. Most of the victims were Farook’s colleagues. 
 
 Citing law enforcement officials and government sources, Reuters, the Associated Press, CNN and the New York Times reported that Malik pledged allegiance to the Isis leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, on Facebook. CNN’s sources said she made the posts while the attack was happening. Other accounts said she used an alias and deleted the messages before the attack. 
 
 The officials said investigators were still looking into additional motives, including possible workplace tensions over religion. 
 
 Farook, described by relatives and colleagues as a quiet, reserved and devout Muslim, was a county environmental health inspector. He had been attending a day-long training session, with a holiday-themed luncheon, before leaving mid-morning and returning with Malik. Both wore masks and combat-style black clothing and wielded assault rifles, according to witnesses. 
 
 One of the dead was Nicholas Thalasinos, a Jewish colleague with outspoken views, and blog postings, about Islam and jihadis. He reportedly had a heated argument with Farook about two weeks before the massacre. There are unconfirmed reports that Farook may have been involved in another argument shortly before leaving the gathering. 
 
 
 
 The couple appeared to have prepared for a dramatic, bloody confrontation: they stockpiled pipe bombs and thousands of rounds of ammunition at home and several days before the attack deleted their electronic information, according to the officials who briefed the media. 
 
 Several days earlier they also rented a black SUV, used in their dramatic final gun battle with police. Before heading to the Inland Regional Center they left their six-month-old daughter with Farook’s mother, saying they had a medical appointment. 
 
 ‘I think he married a terrorist’ 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest This undated combination of photos provided by the FBI, left, and the California Department of Motor Vehicles shows Tashfeen Malik, left, and Syed Farook. Photograph: AP 
 
 Malik’s alleged oath to Isis intensified scrutiny on her role and background. 
 
 She was born in Pakistan and travelled on a Pakistani passport, and recently lived in Saudi Arabia. She apparently met Farook online – he posted profiles on Muslim dating websites – and met in person when he travelled to Saudi Arabia last year. 
 
 They came to the US together in July 2014, Bowdich told a news conference. Malik traveled with K-1 visa, which lets people enter the US to marry an American citizen. 
 
 Christian Nwadike, who worked with Farook for five years, told CBS that his co-worker had been different since he returned from Saudi Arabia. “I think he married a terrorist,” Nwadike said. 
 
 Syed Nisar Hussain Shah, one of Malik’s professors in the pharmacy department at Bahauddin Zakariya University, said she was a diligent student and one of the small minority of women who wore a veil. “She remained always in a veil and she was not mixing with other students. She was shy,” he said. 
 
 During her studies she lived with other students in the women’s hostel at the university. After completing her five-year course in 2012 she moved to Saudi Arabia to be with her parents, Dr Shah said. 
 
 Comey said hundreds of officers were working on the case around the world and a large volume of electronic data was being exploited even though the killers had tried to conceal their movements. Without going into detail, he said there were elements of the evidence that “did not make sense” to investigators. 
 
 The alleged Isis connection will tilt political debate over the massacre from gun control to immigration, radical Islam and national security, potentially boosting Donald Trump, Ben Carson and other Republican presidential contenders who have focused on those issues. 
 
 Obama said the attack may have been motivated by a mix of reasons, including extremist ideology. 
 
 Publicly, the FBI continued to reserve judgment. “We don’t know the motive,” Bowdich said on Thursday. “We cannot rule anything out at this point. We don’t know if this was the intended target or there was something that triggered him to do this immediately.” 
 
 On Friday, David Chelsey, a lawyer for Farook and Malik’s family, said many details “do not add up”. 
 
 “There are a lot of disconnects and there are a lot of unknowns and there are a lot of things that quite frankly don’t add up, or seem implausible,” he told CNN. 
 
 Later at a news conference in Los Angeles, the lawyers played down any terrorist link and suggested loneliness and teasing at work may have contributed to the attack. “Someone made fun of his beard. He was a very isolated, introverted individual with really no friends that we could identify,” Chesley said. 
 
 They said the alleged link to terrorism was tenuous. “All there is thus far is some nebulous thing that someone looked at something on Facebook,” said Chesley. Visiting a page did not signify endorsement, he added. 
 
 
 
 The lawyers disputed the characterisation of Malik as a terrorist who radicalised her husband, saying she was a soft-spoken housewife who cared for the couple’s infant daughter. 
 
 Farhan Khan, who is married to one of Farook’s sisters, told NBC News he had begun legal proceedings to adopt the couple’s daughter. He lashed out at his late brother-in-law. “You left your six-month-old daughter,” Khan said. “In this life some people cannot have kids. God gave you a gift of a daughter. And you left that kid behind … What did you achieve?” 
 
 
 
 Candlelit vigils drew thousands of people, including Muslim, Christian and other faith leaders, across San Bernardino on Thursday night. 
 
 On Friday, some streets that had been sealed off were reopened, restoring a semblance of normality to a city still coming to terms with its loss. The dead victims, five women and nine men, ranged in age from 26 to 60. They included a father of six, a coffee shop owner, a physical education teacher, a health inspector who followed his love to California, a mother who fled Iran to start a new life, and the cousin of a New York Giants player. 
 
 The loss of life was the country’s worst since the December 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. 
 
 Thirteen of the dead worked for the county health department, said a spokeswoman, Felisa Cardona. “It’s an unspeakable tragedy of this magnitude. It’s just devastating to fellow employees and it’s devastating to the community.” 
 
 After police vacated Malik and Farook’s home it briefly became a media circus when journalists entered and rifled through it, inspecting ID documents, baby books, a crib and other items before being ushered out by the landlord. He then boarded up the property. 
 
 Additional reporting by Jon Boone. ||||| Late Friday, a UPS driver noticed that a package being delivered was addressed to Farook's townhouse and turned around to return it to a distribution facility, San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said in a tweet. The package was held in isolation, and the sheriff's office deployed bomb technicians to inspect the package out of an abundance of caution. 
 
 [Previous story, published Friday, 10:06 p.m. ET] 
 
 (CNN) -- The San Bernardino, California, mass shooting is now being investigated as "an act of terrorism," FBI official David Bowdich said Friday. 
 
 Bowdich said the FBI "uncovered evidence ... of extreme planning." 
 
 He said some phone conversations between at least one of the shooters and other people are being investigated. The announcement means the FBI has become the lead investigative agency, taking over from San Bernardino police. 
 
 "As of today, based on the information and the facts as we know them, we are now investigating these horrific acts as an act of terrorism," said Bowdich, assistant director of the FBI office in Los Angeles. 
 
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 The announcement came several hours after a revelation about Tashfeen Malik, the female shooter in the Wednesday massacre that left 14 dead and 21 wounded. 
 
 She posted a pledge of allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on Facebook while the shooting was happening, three U.S. officials familiar with the investigation told CNN. 
 
 Malik's post was made on an account with a different name, one U.S. official said. The officials did not explain how they knew Malik made the post. 
 
 A Facebook official told CNN that a post that went up about 11 a.m. Wednesday that violated the company's community standards that prohibit the promotion of terrorism or the glorification of violence. It was taken down Thursday. 
 
 The official said he couldn't go into details about the nature of the post. The official said Facebook is cooperating with law enforcement. 
 
 The mass shooting may have been inspired by ISIS, a law enforcement official said, but none of the officials said ISIS directed or ordered the attack. ISIS has called for people worldwide to launch attacks in its name but isn't known to have claimed credit for what happened in San Bernardino. 
 
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 Malik and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, burst into a holiday party for the environmental health department he worked for and opened fire. They were killed elsewhere in a shootout with police. 
 
 No one has been arrested in connection with the massacre, but authorities say arrests are possible. 
 
 "This is looking more and more like self-radicalization," a law enforcement official said. 
 
 Farook's relatives didn't know the couple held radical views and have no idea why the couple burst into the party for Farook's co-workers and viciously opened fire, family lawyers said. Nor did the family know the couple had a makeshift bomb lab in the apartment they shared with their 6-month-old daughter and Farook's mother. 
 
 "It just doesn't make sense for these two to be able to act like some kind of Bonnie and Clyde or something," Farook family attorney David S. Chesley told CNN's Chris Cuomo. "It's just ridiculous. It doesn't add up." 
 
 Another official said authorities haven't ruled out that others may have influenced this radical view. In addition, the law enforcement source said investigators think a workplace issue with religion may have sparked the killings. 
 
 Officials: Farook talked to person investigated for terror 
 
 Neither Farook nor his wife had gotten into trouble with the law, according to police. Neither was on any list of potentially radicalized people. 
 
 But it's not known what connections Malik, who was born and raised in Pakistan and moved to Saudi Arabia about the age of 19, had with any terrorists or groups. 
 
 Investigators are exploring Farook's communications with at least one person who was being investigated for possible terror connections. Some were by phone, some on social media. 
 
 "These appear to be soft connections," an official said, meaning they were not frequent contacts. Farook's last communication with the contacts was months ago. 
 
 A federal official said Farook has "overseas communications and associations," but it's not yet clear how relevant they are to the shootings. "We don't know yet what they mean," the official said. 
 
 Family lawyer Mohammad Abuershaid said that Farook traveled twice to Saudi Arabia -- first in 2013 for the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca that Muslims are required to make at least once in their lifetimes, then again to marry Malik, whom he'd met through an online dating service. 
 
 Bowdich said that he went to Pakistan, as well, though Abuershaid denied that. 
 
 Did a workplace dispute boil over? 
 
 The shooters didn't make it easy for authorities: The hard drive from their computer is gone, and two relatively new cell phones were found smashed in a garbage can near one of the crime scenes, law enforcement officials said. 
 
 Bowdich called this an attempt to destroy "digital fingerprints." 
 
 Photos: San Bernardino shooting Police officers stand guard as they investigate a suspicious vehicle in Redlands, California, on Wednesday, December 2, after a mass shooting in nearby San Bernardino in which 14 people died and 21 were injured. The shooting took place at the Inland Regional Center, where employees with the county health department were attending a holiday event. The two shooters -- Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik -- were fatally shot in a gun battle with police hours after the initial incident. Farook worked for the county health department. Hide Caption 1 of 29 Photos: San Bernardino shooting A police officer places a marker along East San Bernardino Avenue, near where the shootout occurred. Hide Caption 2 of 29 Photos: San Bernardino shooting Law enforcement officers search a residential area for suspects who fled after the shooting. Hide Caption 3 of 29 Photos: San Bernardino shooting Police search for the suspects in San Bernardino. Hide Caption 4 of 29 Photos: San Bernardino shooting The residential area was not far from where the shooting occurred. Hide Caption 5 of 29 Photos: San Bernardino shooting Law enforcement officers search a neighborhood in San Bernardino. Hide Caption 6 of 29 Photos: San Bernardino shooting A police officer loads his weapon while pursuing suspects. Hide Caption 7 of 29 Photos: San Bernardino shooting A SWAT team mobilizes during the search. Hide Caption 8 of 29 Photos: San Bernardino shooting People pray on the San Bernardino Golf Course, across the street from where the shooting took place. Hide Caption 9 of 29 Photos: San Bernardino shooting Heavily armed law enforcement officers swarmed the area where the shooting occurred. Hide Caption 10 of 29 Photos: San Bernardino shooting People leave a community center after reuniting with friends and family in the aftermath of the shootings. Hide Caption 11 of 29 Photos: San Bernardino shooting A woman is comforted near the scene of the shooting. Hide Caption 12 of 29 Photos: San Bernardino shooting A police helicopter hovers around the Inland Regional Center. Hide Caption 13 of 29 Photos: San Bernardino shooting Luis Gutierrez gets emotional as he talks about his wife who works in the facility and saw a gunman, according to Los Angeles Times photographer Marcus Yam. Hide Caption 14 of 29 Photos: San Bernardino shooting Two women speak with a firefighter at a triage area near the scene. Hide Caption 15 of 29 Photos: San Bernardino shooting Police stand guard outside of the emergency room at the Loma Linda University Medical Center, where some of the victims were being treated. Hide Caption 16 of 29 Photos: San Bernardino shooting Police escort civilians away from the site of the shooting. Hide Caption 17 of 29 Photos: San Bernardino shooting People walk away from the scene. It is unclear how many people were at the facility at the time of the shooting. Hide Caption 18 of 29 Photos: San Bernardino shooting Police in SWAT gear secure the area. Hide Caption 19 of 29 Photos: San Bernardino shooting Two women embrace at a community center where family members were gathering to pick up people from the scene. Hide Caption 20 of 29 Photos: San Bernardino shooting People gather at the San Bernardino Golf Course. Hide Caption 21 of 29 Photos: San Bernardino shooting People talk to police at the golf course. Hide Caption 22 of 29 Photos: San Bernardino shooting A woman is wheeled away on a stretcher. Hide Caption 23 of 29 Photos: San Bernardino shooting People are moved away from the area by bus. Hide Caption 24 of 29 Photos: San Bernardino shooting Police and fire personnel are seen near the site of the shooting. Hide Caption 25 of 29 Photos: San Bernardino shooting A crowd gathers behind the police line. Hide Caption 26 of 29 Photos: San Bernardino shooting Ambulances pull out of a staging area near the Inland Regional Center. Hide Caption 27 of 29 Photos: San Bernardino shooting A SWAT vehicle carries police officers. Hide Caption 28 of 29 Photos: San Bernardino shooting SWAT teams and a bomb squad were working to clear the buildings where the shootings took place. Hide Caption 29 of 29 
 
 Authorities haven't ruled out what President Barack Obama called "mixed motives," meaning that Islamic radicalism and workplace grievances both could have driven the attack. 
 
 San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan had earlier said there were indications Farook appeared angry when he suddenly left the holiday luncheon at Inland Regional Center, only to return heavily armed with his wife. 
 
 But the chief on Friday played down that possibility, saying many people at the holiday party said they saw no evidence of an argument. 
 
 Farook family lawyers didn't speculate on his reasoning, though Chesley did say that "at some times co-workers have done silly things, like made fun of Syed's beard." 
 
 One of Farook's colleagues killed in the attack, Nicholas Thalasinos, liked to discuss religion and politics. Farook and Thalasinos, reportedly a devout Messianic Jew, had a "heated, passionate" discussion about politics and religion a few days earlier, said Kuuleme Stephens, a friend of Thalasinos, who called him at work while Thalasinos was in the middle of the conversation. 
 
 The men were sticking by their strongly held positions but were not fighting, Stephens said. 
 
 Thalasinos' widow, Jennifer, said he was quite verbal about terrorism. "He's very upset about what ISIS has been doing and the radicalized Muslims," she said. 
 
 Reporters go inside attackers home 
 
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 Even those who knew Farook best didn't see anything to suggest something nefarious, according to family representatives. 
 
 That included Farook's mother, who thought nothing of it when the pair had her watch their 6-month-old girl while they went to a doctor's appointment, Abuershaid said. The lawyer didn't know if there ever was a doctor's appointment -- only that the mother initially worried that Farook had gotten shot, not that he was doing the shooting. 
 
 Chesley expressed surprise that Malik, whom he described as being "about 90 pounds, so it's unlikely she could even carry a weapon or wear some type of a vest or do any of this," could have been an active participant in the horror. 
 
 A mob of reporters was allowed inside Farook and Malik's rented Redlands townhouse Friday, getting a glimpse at how they lived. 
 
 Much of it appeared relatively mundane -- from a hanging clock to couches to many baby items like a crib, ExerSaucer and other toys. 
 
 But there were also hints of something more, like shattered glass, boarded-up windows and lists of items seized by federal authorities. The FBI always leaves behind such lists after a search. 
 
 Authorities searched the house earlier and found pipe bombs, thousands of rounds of ammunition inside the house and more guns. 
 
 The FBI inventoried what they found and returned custody of the home to the landlord. The inventory listed parts for guns, about 5,000 rounds of ammunition, tools, gun boxes, holsters, electronics, Christmas lights, a thumb drive, a laptop and a cellphone with a SIM card missing. 
 
 Asked whether authorities were concerned about media entering the couple's apartment, Bowdich replied: "Once we turn that location back over to the occupants of that residence or once we board it up, anyone who goes in at that point has nothing to do with us." ||||| Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Sunday that the FBI is looking into whether the mother of one of the attackers in the San Bernardino, California, shootings knew about the criminal activities of her son and his wife. 
 
 "Obviously, it's something that we're looking at very, very closely," Lynch said on NBC's "Meet the Press." 
 
 Law enforcement officials have said that Rafia Farook lived in the same house in Redlands, California, where her son, Syed Farook, and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, were building at least 15 pipe bombs and stockpiling thousands of rounds of ammunition. 
 
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 Farook and Malik were carrying two .223-caliber rifles — a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 and a DPMS model — which were originally purchased in 2011 and 2012 by a friend of Farook's who was also a neighbor. 
 
 Investigators said don't know how the rifles were transferred to the couple before they stormed the Inland Resource Center, a social services agency where dozens of people were gathering for a holiday party. 
 
 Officials say the man isn't a suspect in the shootings and that he was distraught afterward. Two law enforcement officials said the man checked himself into a mental health facility in Southern California. 
 
 Senior law enforcement officials also said Sunday that they do not yet know whether the terrorist group ISIS specifically played a significant role in the couple's radicalization. 
 
 Another official said there's still no evidence that the couple was in direct contact with any terror groups or individuals overseas leading up to the attack. 
 
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 The Italian newspaper La Stampa reported Sunday that Farook's father, also named Syed, said that his son agreed with the goal of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi to create an Islamic state. 
 
 U.S. officials have said that around the time of the San Bernardino shooting attack, Malik sent a post to her Facebook page pledging loyalty to al Baghdadi. 
 
 A representative of the newspaper told NBC News that the father said he had been interviewed by the FBI for seven hours. 
 
 On "Meet the Press," Attorney General Lynch said the pattern of people in the United States becoming radicalized by a terrorist group's propaganda has become a familiar one. 
 
 But as for the couple that committed last week's mass shooting, "We're not sure which one (fanatical ideology) they picked in this case, despite the media accounts." 
 
 Lynch said that after conducting 300 interviews and carrying out several searches, investigators "do not have evidence that they were part of either a larger group or cell, or that they were planning anything else." 
 
 Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas and chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said he's been told that federal investigators are working hard to determine what Malik was doing overseas before she came to the U.S. in 2014 to be Farook's wife. 
 
 "There's a serious investigation ongoing into what she was doing in Pakistan and in Saudi, including if she attended the red mosque in Islamabad, which is a very radicalized mosque," he said on "Fox News Sunday."
– Authorities say the woman who took part in this week's mass shooting in San Bernardino had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State online. The details of what Tashfeen Malik wrote and when she wrote it are still developing, but NBC News quotes a source as saying that she posted a statement in support of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi "just before the attack." CNN has it a little differently, reporting that she pledged allegiance to Baghdadi "as the San Bernardino attack was happening" and that she did so under an account not bearing her name. In any event, authorities at this point don't think she and husband Syed Rizwan Farook were given any instructions prior to the attack by ISIS, reports the New York Times. "At this point, we believe they were more self-radicalized and inspired by the group than actually told to do the shooting," a federal law enforcement official tells the newspaper. The Times adds that the couple appeared to delete their "electronic information" in the days prior to the assault, firming up speculation that it was premeditated. (Just before the rampage, one co-worker asked, "Where's Syed?")