Officials Believe San Bernardino Massacre Suspects Were Planning Even Bigger Attack
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Authorities said Thursday it appeared San Bernardino massacre suspects Syed Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik were planning an even-deadlier attack.
KCAL9's Dave Bryan reports the couple were in the final stages of planning a second attack that would have produced a staggering loss of life.
The reported plot would explain why the suspects were sitting on thousands of rounds of ammunition and a large supply of materials for homemade pipe bombs.
Officials believe the San Bernardino attack might have been a rehearsal for something bigger.
The Los Angeles Times reports the husband and wife shooters may have planned several other attacks and, according to two federal sources, likely were in the final stages of putting together an assault at a building or location with "a lot more people inside."
According to those sources, they were probably going to target a nearby school or college.
Investigators reportedly based that information on evidence left behind on Farook and Malik's computers and digital devices, some of which were not completely destroyed before they were killed in the shootout with police.
This news comes as forensic divers scanned a lake just a few miles from the site of last week's bloody San Bernardino terrorist massacre looking for important evidence that may have been ditched by the shooters.
"The reason we're here searching this lake today is because we did have a lead that indicated that the subjects came into this area, and we're seeking evidence, anything that had to do with this particular crime," said David Bowdich, FBI assistant director of the LA Office.
The search is believed to be focused on a computer hard drive, electronic devices and other items that may have been tossed into the lake to hide evidence.
RELATED LINK: FBI Dive Team Searches Seccombe Lake As Part Of San Bernardino Investigation
Also Thursday, there were new revelations about Farook. The FBI is reportedly looking into a possible link between him and the leader of a terrorist group who was arrested in 2012, namely Sohiel Omar Kabir, 34.
Kabir was tried in a plott to blow up US military bases in Afghanistan. Kabir, who lived in Pomona, is a naturalized citizen from Afghanistan.
The feds believe Farook was in Kabir's social circle and may had contact with him.
"It would be irresponsible for us to not look into any potential connections. We don't know all those connections yet. I'm not prepared to discuss that at this point. I just don't have all the answers," said Bowdich.
There are also more questions about what role, if any, Enrique Marquez might have played in the massacre.
He is the friend who reportedly obtained two rifles for Farook, who apparently didn't want the weapons to be tied back to him.
A college friend told CBS News, that when Marquez talked about Islam "he talked about it in the past tense. And that he told me he de-converted years ago."
Outside the Marquez home, where Farook and Marquez grew up, Marquez's mother talked about her son, in Spanish, captured on a cellphone video.
"My world is upside down," she said in translation. "My son is a good person,"
On Thursday evening, Reuters reports that several terrorist groups ignored repeated attempts by Malik to contact them, believing she might have been part of a US law enforcement sting.
