The two people suspected of killing at least 14 people and injuring 17 more in San Bernardino, Calif., do not appear to be directly connected to any international terrorist group or a domestic cell, the head of the FBI said on Friday.
“So far, we have no indication that these killers are part of a larger group or form part of a cell,” FBI Director James Comey told reporters in Washington, noting that the investigation was still in its early days. “There’s no indication that they are part of a network.”
The claim came moments about the FBI official leading the investigation in California disclosed that the Wednesday attack is being investigated as an act of terrorism, on the heels of new fears about the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Still, the assistant director of the FBI’s field office in Los Angeles, David Bowdich, acknowledged on Friday that the bureau is “aware of” and “looking at” a Facebook post from one of the two suspects that reportedly pledged allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
News of that post — combined with the seemingly elaborate planning of the two suspected attackers — caused many to suspect that Wednesday’s violence was either directed or influenced by ISIS.
According to reports, the other suspect, 28-year-old Syed Farook, had been in contact with people who were known to the FBI.
Yet Comey on Friday seemed to downplay that revelation, indicating that the communications were relatively minor and should not have sent up a red flag.
“There were not contacts between either of the killers and subjects of our investigations that was of such significance that it raised these killers up onto our radar screen,” he said.