$28,500 deposited into Syed Farook's bank account weeks before shootings
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (KTVU) - A large sum of money was deposited in Syed Farook's bank account about two weeks before he and his wife opened fire on Farook's coworkers in the deadly San Bernardino mass shooting, according to a source who talked with Fox News on Monday.
The FBI announced the couple appears to have embraced radical viewpoints for quite some time and had practiced at local shooting ranges.
A source close to the investigation told Fox News that $28,500 was deposited into Farook's bank account on or about November 18th. The source says Farook withdrew $10,000 cash at a Union Bank branch in San Bernardino on November 20th. At least three transfers of $5,000 appear have been given to Farook's mother.
The deposit came from WebBank.com, which has a website describing it as a Utah-based provider of consumer and commercial financing.
Farook earned $53,000 a year with the county as an environmental health inspector. It's unclear whether the deposit might have been a loan or was used just weeks before the attack to purchase the rifles used in the mass shooting.
Investigators say those rifles were originally purchased by Farook's former neighbor and childhood friend Enrique Marquez, Junior about two to three years ago in California. The FBI raided Marquez's Riverside home Friday. Marquez has not been charged and is now talking with investigators.
"We do have evidence that both of these subjects did some target, participated in target practice at some ranges within the metro area," said FBI spokesman David Bowdich.
Officials say just two days before the massacre, Farook took a rifle and handgun to the Riverside Magnum Range on Sunday and Monday.
A photo shows the couple passing through customs at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on July 27, 2014. Syed Farook, an American of Pakistani descent, was bringing his bride-to-be Tashfeen Malik, a university-educated Pakistani raised in Saudi Arabia, into the U.S. on a fiance visa.
"We have learned and believe that both subjects were radicalized and have been for quite some time," Bowdich said Monday.
Investigators are looking into whether there were any direct connections to terror groups overseas. Some news reports indicate that Malik might have embraced radical views two years ago, prior to ISIS declaring a caliphate in June 2014.
The FBI says bomb experts now have identified 19 pipes recovered from the couple's home that could have been turned into bombs.
Reporters surrounded Farook's father as he entered his home in Coronoa, about 30 miles south of San Bernardino. He did not answer questions and the family is said to be cooperating with investigators.
San Bernardino County offices re-opened Monday with armed guards and additional security measures. Outside, there is a growing memorial of candles, flowers and messages in memory of the 14 victims killed.
"They weren't soldiers. But they became the front-line in a battle against terrorists," said Janice Rutherford, a San Bernardino County Supervisor.
Officials say ten of the victims were county employees and union members in the SEIU Local 721. The union partnered with the community to hold a candlelight vigil at Cal State University in San Bernardino Monday night.
Fourteen candles were lit for the victims as the crowd listened to songs and prayers for peace.
The FBI says it has interviewed more than 400 people and is partnering with FBI offices overseas as well as foreign counterparts in what has become an international investigation.