Tashfeen Malik, one of the two people who police say carried out a bloody attack on the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, Calif., had pledged allegiance to the leader of ISIS on a Facebook page around the time of the attack, a source with knowledge of the investigation tells NPR.
The federal source who confirmed the development to NPR's Carrie Johnson also warns that the statement on social media should not be seen as evidence that the attack was coordinated or ordered by the extremist group.
The source tells Carrie that Malik, 27, had pledged her support to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi by using a Facebook account that was created under an alias.
This is a developing story, and we'll continue to update it with news.
Citing details such as the crude explosive devices that investigators say were built by Malik and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, the federal source says that as of now, investigators are exploring the possibility that Malik and Farook may have essentially "self-radicalized" after being inspired to action by ISIS.
Malik and Farook died in a gun battle with police hours after the attack on the social services center in San Bernardino.
Last night, the authorities released the names of the 14 people who died in the attack; their ages range from 26 to 60.
A massive effort is now under way to learn more about both Farook, who was born in the U.S. and was an employee at the center, and Malik, who came to the U.S. in July of 2014 as Farook's fiancee, with a a Pakistani passport. The couple had a six-month-old child.
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