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San Bernardino Shooters' Family Call Attack 'Mind-Boggling'
In the aftermath of Wednesday's mass shooting in San Bernardino, family members say they are baffled that their own relatives could commit such an act."I can never imagine my brother or my sister-in-law doing something like this," Saira Khan, the sister of 28-year-old gunman Syed Rizwan Farook, told CBS News in an interview. "Especially because they were happily married, they had a beautiful 6-month-old daughter. It's just mind boggling why they would do something like this."
Farook and his 27-year-old wife Tashfeen Mailk opened fire at a banquet for the San Bernardino County Health Department on Wednesday morning, killing 14 and injuring 21. Farook worked for the county's health department, and the couple were later killed in a shootout with police.
Malik, a Pakistani national, entered the country with Farook in July of 2014 on a K-1 visa, also known as a fiancée visa. They married and had a six-month-old daughter together. On Friday morning, federal investigators revealed that Malik had pledged allegiance to ISIS in a Facebook post.
"Of course it makes me angry," said Saira Khan, about her brother and sister-in-law's acts. "And he put us in this predicament."
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In an interview with NBC News, Farhan Khan, Saira's husband, expressed the same anger and confusion over the incident. "It hits me every few hours," said Farhan Khan. "It makes me angry that he did that."
On Wednesday evening, he was the first family member to speak out and offer his condolences when his brother-in-law was named one of the suspects in the attack
"God gave you a gift of a daughter," he added. "And you left that kid behind. What... what did you achieve?"
Farhan Khan said his brother-in-law was a devout Muslim, but said his acts were not a religious act. "It's his stupid action, nothing to do with religion at all," said Farhan Khan. He said Farook seemed like a "normal person" who had an ordinary family life and enjoyed working on Ford Mustangs. Farhan Khan said Wednesday's shootings were the acts of "not the person I know—he was not radical."
"Something like this doesn't relate to my religion," said Farhan Khan. "I am Muslim. I'm a good person. And there's a lot of good Muslims there. He was a bad person, that was his personal act."
An attorney for the family of the shooters told CNN that there are still lingering questions about the incident. "It just doesn’t make sense for these two to act like some kind of Bonnie and Clyde or something," said David Chesley. "It's just ridiculous."
Saira and Farhan Khan said Farook and Malik's 6-month-old daughter is currently in state custody, but the two of them are working on adopting her.
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The Khans offered their condolences to the victims and their families for Wednesday's attack. "I want to say that we are deeply saddened by what took place and we can't imagine the loss that everybody has gone through," said Saira Khan. "All the people who are injured or were hurt badly—our thoughts and prayers are going out to them."
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