FBI asks public for help with San Bernardino shooters' timeline
SAN BERNARDINO -- Authorities investigating the attack that killed 14 people last month in San Bernardino, California, are seeking the public's help in filling out the timeline of the assailants' moves that day.
Los Angeles FBI official David Bowdich said at a news conference Tuesday that investigators are specifically seeking information about an 18-minute gap in the timeline between the deadly attack at the Inland Regional Center and the shootout in which both attackers were killed.
Bowditch says investigators hope to find out if the assailants contacted anyone in that Dec. 2 period, between 12:59 p.m. and 1:17 p.m.
A federal grand jury indictment announced last week avoids the need for a hearing before a judge to determine whether 24-year-old Enrique Marquez should stand trial.
Authorities say the friend of one of the shooters in the San Bernardino massacre has been indicted on charges that include conspiring in a pair of previous planned attacks and making false statements when he bought the guns later used in the shooting.
The charges include conspiring with shooter Syed Rizwan Farook to carry out attacks on a Southern California college and freeway in 2011 and 2012. They later abandoned their alleged plans.
Marquez, 24, is also charged with two counts for saying two assault rifles he later gave to Farook were only for himself or his immediate family.
Two other counts accuse him of immigration fraud for a sham marriage.
Marquez did not enter a plea when he appeared in court Dec. 21. U.S. Magistrate Judge David Bristow ordered Marquez held without bail until a hearing on Monday.
"The defendant actively conspired with the decedent Mr. Farook for purposes of participating in a terrorist act in this nation," Bristow said during that court appearance, adding that Marquez also obtained smokeless powder that Farook used to create improvised explosive devices.
"The grave threat presented to the community by that conspiracy was demonstrated on Dec. 2 when Mr. Farook and his wife committed a terrorist act on the Inland Regional Center.... He continues to present that danger to the community," Bristow said.
Marquez faces up to 35 years in prison if convicted of all charges.
The staff was still gearing up for the holidays on Dec. 2, the day 14 people were massacred on the center's gleaming campus.
Few of its 600 employees have gone to the office since, other than a brief visit to gather personal belongings a week after the terror attack.
On Monday, they returned.
"Most of us are relieved to be back at work. We want to continue with the normalcy, and we miss each other very much," Executive Director Lavinia Johnson told reporters. "We want to ensure that our staff feels safe and secure as they work in their offices."
Security guards checked employee IDs at the entrance to the center's parking lot. No visitors were planned this week, and a chain-link fence wrapped in green mesh surrounding the property will remain up indefinitely, Johnson said.
While many have continued to work, visiting the homes of autistic children and mentally disabled adults, they haven't been together in the place where everything froze once law enforcement officers whisked them away.
Amid the investigation and cleanup, the campus has been locked behind the temporary fence. Within that perimeter, in one corner, is a second fence.
It seals the conference center that San Bernardino County's health department was renting for a holiday luncheon when the two attackers began their assault. A county restaurant inspector targeting his co-workers was joined by his wife in killing 14 and injuring dozens.
The conference building did not reopen Monday, and it's not clear when it might.
Last month, CBS News spoke to a woman who spent her life counseling survivors of tragedy, and became a survivor herself in San Bernardino.
Angelika Robinson has helped others in their worst moments, like after the Columbine shooting.
"There is something that is so profoundly important about being with someone in the most horrific time of their life," Robinson said.
But on a routine morning at the Inland Regional Center, Robinson found herself at the center of tragedy.
"I had just finished my first assessment for the day. I heard gunshots. Several people yelled 'they're shooting at everybody. I saw the reaction on people's faces, and the horror," Robinson recalled.
Robinson said she immediately tried to calm others, especially when SWAT officers burst in.
"Their weapons are pointed away from us, and that means that they're the good guys and they're protecting us," Robinson said.
But when they were brought outside, and saw the dead and wounded, Robinson said "It was horrifying. It was absolutely horrifying."
Robinson convinced herself she was fine, until she wasn't.
"I think my entire family noticed a change in me," she said. "I was panicked and I was jumpy. And I was irritable."
But the crisis counselor couldn't diagnose herself.
"I had to hear that from someone else, for me to be able to accept that I was traumatized," Robinson said. "Just because we don't have the physical wound -- we all got injured."