The young, veiled bride who opened fire on her husband’s colleagues during last week’s gunfire massacre in California may have married her husband with the sole aim of getting a visa to the United States to carry out an act of terror.
The LA Times, The Sunday Times, and The Washington Post have each published detailed investigations into the background of 29-year-old Tashfeen Malik, who reportedly fired the first shots in the massacre that killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California.
Her husband, Syed Farook, 28, appeared to hesitate before he, too, began firing.
The couple had only recently met online. Syed, who is US born, travelled to Pakistan to meet his new bride, and they were married in Saudi Arabia. The marriage gave Tashfeen access to a temporary US visa. She gave birth to the couple’s baby daughter in the US in May.
Tashfeen dropped her infant with her grandmother before going to shoot up her husband’s workplace. The child is now orphaned, after both parents were killed by police.
Reports say Tashfeen was the daughter of a wealthy Pakistani family who became radicalized while attending university in Multan, Pakistan.
President Barack Obama will address the nation about the massacre on Sunday night US time (mid-morning Monday, Australian time.) He is likely to announce tighter controls on marriage visas; greater airport security, and he will again appeal to Congress to take action on gun control.
