Breaking: Female Suspect in San Bernardino Shooting Reportedly Pledged Allegiance to ISIS

ingo H.W. Chiu/AP

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


The female suspect accused by the police of carrying out Wednesday’s deadly rampage in San Bernardino, California, swore her allegiance to the leader of ISIS in a Facebook post that has since been deleted, according to several news outlets, including the New York Times and NBC. The post was reportedly written the same day of the shooting.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, federal government officials say Tashfeen Malik, the 27-year-old wife of suspected gunman Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, used an alias Facebook account to write a post in support of the terrorist group.

It’s unclear at this time if ISIS militants actually ordered the couple to carry out the shooting. Multiple motives are still being investigated by the police and the FBI, including a possible workplace-related grievance.

On Wednesday, Malik and Farook opened fire inside the Inland Regional Center, a social services agency, killing 14 people and injuring 21, prompting a massive manhunt and an eventual shoot-out with the police that killed the assailants.

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate