White House: San Bernardino shooters not part of a terrorist cell
The intelligence community told President Obama during a briefing Saturday that the suspects in the San Bernardino, Calif., shooting were not part of an “organized group” or “terrorist cell,” the White House said in a statement.
“The president’s team highlighted several pieces of information that point to the perpetrators being radicalized to violence to commit these heinous acts,” the statement said.
{mosads}“The President’s team also affirmed that they had as of yet uncovered no indication the killers were part of an organized group or part of a broader terrorist cell.”
Obama directed national security personnel to take “all measures necessary to continue to protect the American people, which remains his highest priority,” the statement said.
The team that briefed the president included FBI Director James Comey, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson.
Authorities said one of the alleged shooters, Tashfeen Malik, pledged her allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) during the attack.
Malik and her husband, Syed Nazrim Farook, are suspected of killing 14 and injuring 21 in the attack on the San Bernardino Inland Regional Center on Wednesday.
The couple was killed in a shootout with police after fleeing the scene.
Authorities found thousands of rounds of ammunition, 12 pipe bombs and materials to make several improvised explosive devices (IEDs) at the couple’s home.
The FBI said it is investigating the attack as an “act of terrorism.”
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