The FBI said this afternoon that it is now investigating the shooting in San Bernardino, California as an act of terrorism. A husband and wife killed 14 people at a civil services center there on Wednesday.
“We are now investigating this as an act of terrorism,” assistant FBI Director David Bowdich told the media, reports The San Bernardino Sun. This means that the case is officially being handled by the bureau.
The announcement came a few hours after officials told several media outlets that one of the shooters, Tashfeen Malik, had pledged allegiance to ISIS on Facebook. The other shooter was her husband, Syed Farook, an American citizen and an employee of San Bernardino County.
Malik was born in Pakistan and authorities are investigating the couple’s contact with people overseas. There is currently no evidence to suggest that the couple had direct contact with the Islamic State.
A federal law enforcement official told The Los Angeles Times that Farook did have contact with at least two people linked to overseas terrorist groups. He had “some kind” of contact with members of Nusra Front, an al Qaeda group in Syria; and Shabab, a group in Somalia.