Many questions remain elusive in California terror attack

By Amanda Lee Myers, Associated Press

Friday, Jan. 15, 2016 | 6:01 p.m.

LOS ANGELES — Six weeks after the San Bernardino terror attack, the man leading the investigation said Friday that some of the most basic questions remain the most elusive to answer — was anyone else involved, was more violence planned, and why was the attack site chosen?

David Bowdich, chief of the FBI's Los Angeles field office, told The Associated Press that of all the unanswered questions, the one he most wants answered is whether the husband-and-wife killers had accomplices.

"We're interested in anyone who we find had anything to do with this, anyone who turned their head, anyone who participated in any form or fashion in this," Bowdich said in an interview in his office near Beverly Hills.

"We are not looking past anyone at this point," he said. "We have a very open mind on this investigation."

Another major question is why the shooters, Syed Faroook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, chose an annual training of his co-workers for their attack, as opposed to a place with more targets, such as a mall or movie theater.

"Why that venue, why that day?" Bowdich said. "What was their intent following that? They had 19 pipes inside that garage."

Although Bowdich said if Farook and Malik truly had another target, why wouldn't they have acted in the four hours that passed between the attack and their fatal shootout with police.

"We hope to answer that one day," he said.

Investigators also are continuing to try to fill an 18-minute gap in the whereabouts of the husband-and-wife killers following the attack. The agency has gotten a number of tips about the gap, though Bowdich declined to elaborate.

Federal authorities have said Farook, a restaurant inspector, and his wife, who came to the U.S. from Pakistan in July 2014 so she could marry him, were radicalized Muslims long before the attack but never drew the attention of law enforcement.

They amassed ammunition and explosives at their home, and on Dec. 2 donned black commando outfits and face masks and launched their attack. Immediately afterward a post on a Facebook page associated with Malik said the couple pledged allegiance to the leader of Islamic State, according to federal authorities.

The only person charged in connection with the attacks is Enrique Marquez Jr., a friend of Farook's accused of providing the assault rifles used in the massacre. He has pleaded not guilty.

A grand jury last month indicted Marquez on charges that include making false statements about when he bought the weapons and conspiring with Farook on a pair of previously planned attacks that were never carried out.