The Latest: Gun-range teacher says shooter practiced there

The Associated Press
The Associated Press

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) — The latest on the shootings in San Bernardino, California (all times local):

3:15 p.m.

An instructor at a gun range in Riverside, California, says the man who opened fire on a gathering of his co-workers practiced with a rifle there before the attack.

John Galletta said Monday that he saw Syed Farook using his own gun at the Riverside Magnum Range.

But Galletta says no one at the range could recall seeing Farook’s wife, Tashfeen Malik. She helped her husband kill 14 people Wednesday.

The instructor declined to say how many times Farook visited the range, which is about 20 miles from where the killings took place. Galletta says he never spoke to Farook during those visits.

Asked if he and others should have been suspicious, he replied, “How do you determine what somebody’s intents are?”

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2:05 p.m.

Federal authorities say they’re trying to determine how two assault rifles used in the California attack got from a buyer to the shooters.

John D’Angelo, assistant special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, says Syed Farook bought three guns that have been recovered, including two pistols that he and his wife used in the shooting.

D’Angelo said at a news conference Monday that Enrique Marquez purchased two others, the assault rifles. D’Angelo says federal authorities are investigating how those weapons got from Marquez to Farook and Farook’s wife, Tashfeen Malik, who helped carry out the attack that left 14 dead.

Marquez hasn’t been charged with a crime, and it’s unclear if he did anything illegal.

D’Angelo says the weapons are undergoing forensic tests and they all were legally purchased in California between 2007 and 2012.

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1:40 p.m.

Medical officials say at least half of those injured in the California mass shooting have left area hospitals.

Officials at five hospitals confirm Monday that at least 11 of the 21 people injured in the attack and ensuing shootout with police have been released. Six patients are still hospitalized: Two in critical condition and four others in fair or good condition.

It was not immediately clear whether the remaining four patients were at other hospitals or treated at the scene.

Syed Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, killed 14 people Wednesday when they opened fire at a holiday work gathering of Farook’s co-workers at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino.

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1:25 p.m.

Dispatch tapes show police had the name of one of the California shooting suspects as officers swarmed the scene of the massacre.

Recordings posted by The Press-Enterprise newspaper include an officer saying Syed Farook was a possible suspect. The officer says Farook seemed nervous when he left the building in San Bernardino before the attack and he matched the description of a shooter.

Witnesses told officers that two gunmen were wearing ski-type masks and vests.

The tapes reveal the back-and-forth between officers in the field and calm-talking dispatchers.

At one point, a dispatcher advises all units that potentially three suspects wearing black masks and possibly tactical vests had fled in a black SUV with assault rifles.

Police later said Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, were the only two shooters.

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1:20 p.m.

Authorities say San Bernardino County health employees received training last year on how to react to a workplace shooter in the same conference room where a restaurant inspector and his wife gunned down his co-workers.

County spokeswoman Felisa Cardona says it wasn’t immediately clear whether Syed Farook attended the autumn 2014 training for environmental health workers. She says it was held in a conference room at a social service center — the same one that the public health department rented for its holiday party.

The couple killed 14 people there Wednesday.

One employee in the room when Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, opened fire said colleagues tried to do just as they had been trained — find cover and stay quiet.

Corwin Porter, health department assistant director, said Monday that the room didn’t provide much protection.

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This item has been corrected to show Tashfeen Malik’s name was misspelled Mali.

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12:20 p.m.

The FBI says the California shooters had participated in target practice, including once within days of the attack that killed 14 people.

David Bowdich, assistant director of the FBI’s Los Angeles office, said at a news conference Monday that Syed Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, took part in target practice at ranges in the Los Angeles area.

He says the bureau believes both were radicalized and had been “for some time.” He says the bureau doesn’t know when or how they were radicalized.

The FBI has said it’s investigating the shooting at a holiday gathering of Farook’s co-workers as an act of terrorism.

Bowdich says investigators found 19 pipes in the couple’s home in Redlands, California, that could be turned into bombs with all the right components.

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10:15 a.m.

The founder of an Islamic religious school organization whose former student helped carry out the California mass shooting says the group is non-political and has no links to extremists.

Farhat Hashmi said in a statement on her website that Tashfeen Malik attended Al-Huda International Seminary’s branch in the Pakistani city of Multan briefly between 2013 and 2014.

The school is a women-only madrassa with locations across Pakistan and in the U.S. and Canada. Hashmi says Malik left without completing a diploma.

Hashmi says “it seems” Malik “was unable to understand the beautiful message” of the Quran.

Hashmi says the Al-Huda International Welfare Foundation denounces extremism, violence and acts of terrorism and cannot be held responsible “for personal acts of any of our students.”

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9:20 a.m.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch says the Justice Department is monitoring the wave of anti-Muslim rhetoric emerging in the wake of last week’s mass shooting in San Bernardino.

Responding to reports by The Associated Press and other media outlets that Tashfeen Malik praised the Islamic State group on Facebook around the time she and her husband opened fire, Lynch said Monday investigators do not yet want to define which particular ideology may have inspired them.

Muslim advocacy groups have expressed concern about a rising tide of Islamophobia following the shootings, including incidents of vandalism and threats at mosques.

Lynch emphasized that federal law enforcement prosecutes deeds, not words. Lynch urged Americans not to let violent rhetoric rooted in the fear prompted by the attack turn into violent acts.

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8:30 a.m.

San Bernardino County leaders are vowing increased security at county facilities Monday as thousands of employees return to work after a restaurant inspector and his wife opened fire on a gathering of his co-workers, killing 14 people and wounding 21.

During a press conference Monday, leaders said there will be more security guards at the facilities and they will now be armed. The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department will also increase patrols at county buildings.

Also speaking at Monday’s news conference was County Public Health Director Trudy Raymundo and Department of Environmental Health Services Division Chief Corwin Porter, who were among those who attended the holiday party that was attacked. Raymundo said San Bernardino County will heal and rebuild and will come through stronger on the other side.

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