San Bernardino suspect was obsessed with Israel, father says
CBS News is learning more about the couple that carried out Wednesday's massacre in San Bernardino,their radical views, and just how they got their assault rifles.
From Pakistan to America there are new details about how Tashfeen Malik and Syed Rizwan Farook became radicalized. CBS News' Carter Evans reports that both were quiet students and both became deeply religious. And on Sunday, CBS News heard from Farook's father at his Southern California home.
The elder Syed Farook told the Italian newspaper La Stampa, "My son said he shared (ISIS leader Abu Bakr) Al Baghdadi's ideology, and supported the creation of the Islamic State. He also was obsessed with Israel."
He said his son told him about tensions with a Jewish colleague at the San Bernardino County Health Department.
Nicholas Thalasinos was among the 14 killed in the Inland Regional Center massacre. His wife Jennifer said her husband, a Messianic Jew, was vocal about his support for Israel.
"He did know the shooter. He worked with him in the same department. They were both health inspectors," Jennifer said. "Knowing my husband, if there was something said or if he came in being very radical, I'm sure my husband had plenty to say to him."
Investigators still have no clear motive for the attack, other than to say it was terrorism. Farook met his wife in Saudi Arabia, where she had moved from Pakistan. Those who knew her called Tashfeen Malik a "modern girl" who became deeply religious, never an extremist.
On Sunday, Tashfeen's uncles home in Pakistan was padlocked and abandoned. Authorities are telling everyone to stay away.
The FBI is now trying to piece together what turned them to terror, to massacre 14 and wound 21 others before dying in a hail of gunfire. The assault weapons they used have now been traced to the home of Enrique Marquez next door to where Farook once lived. Agents were at the house Sunday afternoon, carting away a cardboard box after raiding the home early Saturday morning.
A source also tells CBS News they are analyzing gun store surveillance video showing both Marquez and Farook together.
The two men attended the same high school and were close, said neighbor Lorena Aguirre.
"When he would go with Syed and work on the cars, they were happy, they joked around, you could see them laughing. And they spent the whole day, as soon as he got up he would go over," she said. "That went on for years...they were good friends."
Marquez hasn't been seen in the neighborhood since the shooting. Law enforcement sources said he checked himself into a mental health facility shortly after the attack.
Marquez was employed as a security guard. A law enforcement source tells CBS News he has not been interviewed yet. Authorities are taking their time with him because he may be the only credible witness and they want to make sure they don't jeopardize his future testimony.
Also on Sunday, CBS News' David Begnaud spoke with Farook's old classmate who witnessed his troubling changes.
"I was trying to call him and I called every single person that possibly could have been in that building to find out if they were okay," said Chaz Harrison. "And I'm over here calling this guy to find out if he's okay -- and he's the shooter? It's very difficult."
Harrison was a former coworker of Farook.
"Syed was a talker. A lot of people think he was very quiet. I didn't get that impression of him," he said. "He was very confident when he talked. There was times when we walked out of work, in the morning, I couldn't get him to stop talking."
Harrison said Farook was passionate about his religion.
"I let the FBI know that, he didn't want to be in the United States," Harrison said. "He had planned on leaving the United States. There were several occasions where I thought he was going to be leaving the United States."
Harrison said Farook said he wanted to move to Dubai.
"Syed didn't want to be in the United States because he told me that him paying taxes was helping the United States support basically the war on Islam. The war on Muslims," he said.
Harrison said he was very secretive about his wife.
"He was very secretive about his wife. He didn't want to reveal much about his wife," Harrison said. "I could see he wasn't really comfortable talking about it but what he did tell me, she was a pharmacist in her country. He also told me that, she didn't want to be here neither."
But Harrison said Farook never talked about wanting to hurt Americans.
"Syed's thing was he had to leave here because he couldn't live here," said Harrison. "He never talked about harming Americans...he couldn't be here and practice his religion the way I felt like maybe he wanted to."