San Bernardino shooting updates: ‘We must not vilify American Muslims,’ Homeland Security chief says

The widow of a man killed in last week's rampage said Monday that she believed the two shooters targeted her husband, and possibly other victims, because of their divergent religious beliefs.

Jennifer Thalasinos told Sean Hannity on his Fox News show "Hannity" that her husband was a devout Messianic Jew who often wore a Star of David tie clip.

Nicholas Thalasinos, one of the 14 killed in the massacre, worked alongside one of the two assailants, Syed Rizwan Farook. Thalasinos' wife said that they had "completely disagreed" on issues surrounding Israel.

Hannity asked her, "Do you believe that maybe your husband was the person targeted by these two people?"

"Yes I do," Thalasinos replied.

— Matt Hamilton and Hailey Branson-Potts

More than 1,000 students, alumni and community members gathered at Cal State San Bernardino on Monday night at a vigil for the victims of last week’s deadly rampage.

The tragedy resonated deeply at this university, where five of the slain victims and one of the shooters, Syed Rizwan Farook, had attended.

"We are here tonight because sorrow shared is almost always better than facing sorrow in solitude," said University President Tomás D. Morales, one of nearly a dozen campus officials and religious leaders who spoke.

After Morales called for a moment of silence, wind whipped the trees and sent loose leaves scuttling across the patio at the campus commons.

The crowd then turned to a nearby clock tower, where bells rang 14 times – one for each of those killed in the attack.

As the ceremony neared the end, student leaders began lighting white candles that were distributed among the crowd.

A student performer sang “Imagine” and “Let It Be,” with some joining in, holding candles that glowed in the darkness.

— Taylor Goldenstein

Presidential hopeful Donald Trump’s suggestion to ban all Muslims from entering the U.S. met with strong backlash.

But Gregory W. Brittain, an attorney whose office is about two blocks from the San Bernardino shooters’ Redlands home, said that he generally supports Trump and fellow candidate Ted Cruz and that he believes Muslims are “predisposed” to terrorism.

Brittain said he was uncomfortable with the notion of a religious test for would-be immigrants. He said that he would rather the U.S. halt all immigration from countries “where there’s a terrorist or jihadist problem.”

His support of Trump did not diminish because of this slight disagreement. “It was a speech, an idea, a proposal -- it’s not a piece of legislation,” Brittain said.

Ece Algan, a communications professor who is director of Cal State San Bernardino's Center for Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, said Trump was just taking advantage of the situation to score some votes at Muslims’ expense.

“Over time,” she said, “this is going to start looking quite ridiculous. Right now, people are worried, rightfully so, and people are quite sensitive. They don’t know exactly what’s going on.”

— Matt Hamilton and Sonali Kohli

Five of the people killed in Wednesday's attack were Cal State San Bernardino alumni:

- Robert Adams, 2011, bachelor's degree in public health education

- Juan Espinoza, 2002, bachelor's degree in biology

- Shannon Johnson, 2004, bachelor's degree in environmental health science

- Yvette Velasco, 2013, bachelor's degree in environmental health science

- Michael Wetzel, 2001, bachelor's degree in biology

— Sonali Kohli and Taylor Goldenstein

People gathered for a vigil this evening in front of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors headquarters.

Donald Trump’s proposal sparked outrage among religious leaders and residents in San Bernardino County, days after the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, 2001.

—Laura Nelson, Alan Zarembo, Sarah Parvini and Sonali Kohli

One problem is that the people on the no-fly list (as well as the broader terror watch list from which it is drawn) have not been convicted of doing anything wrong. They are merely suspected of having terror connections. And the United States doesn't generally punish or penalize people unless and until they have been charged and convicted of a crime.

In this case, the government would be infringing on a right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution — and yes, like it or not, the right to buy a gun is a constitutional right, according to the U.S. Supreme Court.

How certain is it that the people on the two lists are dangerous? Well, we don't really know, because the no-fly list and the broader watch list are government secrets. People are not notified when they are put on, nor why, and they usually don't discover they have been branded suspected terrorists until they try to travel somewhere.

But serious flaws in the list have been identified.

Syed Rizwan Farook visited the Riverside Magnum Range and practiced shooting an AR-15 there, according to a firearms instructor at the facility.

"He came in like a normal guy," firearms instructor John Galletta said. He couldn't comment on when or how frequently Farook stopped by, but a federal law enforcement source said the shooter had practiced there several times.

Riverside Magnum is "the range the FBI referenced" during a news conference today, Galletta said.

Galletta said Farook's wife, Tashfeen Malik, had never been there. The company has turned over surveillance footage and sign-in logs to the FBI, he said.

Farook brought in the AR-15 he used, Galletta said. He said the range does not check whether a gun is licensed to the person practicing.

The instructor said business has jumped at least 60% since Wednesday's massacre. More customers have come in looking for lessons and information on how to get a concealed carry permit, and how to buy guns.

— Sarah Parvini and Richard Winton

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson met with leaders of the Muslim community in northern Virginia on Monday and asked for help in stopping terrorists from recruiting people to launch violent attacks.

"Terrorist organizations are targeting the young people in these communities, so we are hoping to work together," he said. "Help us to help you to stop this."

His remarks came shortly after Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump called for the United States to stop letting Muslims enter the country.‎

"We must not vilify American Muslims. We must not throw a net of suspicion over American Muslims‎ or any other religion. We must not force American Muslims to run and hide and retreat to the shadows," Johnson said, reading a prepared speech to reporters.

To do so, he said, would be "counter to our homeland security effort, and it's un-American."

When asked about Trump's message, Johnson refused to ‎respond to it directly. "The remarks I just delivered stand for themselves," he said.

— Brian Bennett

Felisa Cardona, a spokeswoman for San Bernardino County, confirmed to The Times that Environmental Health Services employees underwent “active-shooter training” about a year ago, in the same room where Wednesday’s massacre occurred.

Cardona said county officials could not recall whether Syed Rizwan Farook, who worked for county Environmental Health, attended the training with his co-workers, but said that some of the shooting victims were likely to have participated.

It was not immediately clear how many employees received the training or how many years the county had conducted it, the spokeswoman said.

— Matt Stevens

Presidential hopeful Donald Trump is calling for a blanket immigration ban on anyone of Muslim faith.

As this story develops, here is his statement:

Donald J. Trump Statement on Preventing Muslim Immigration

(New York, NY) December 7th, 2015, -- Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on. According to Pew Research, among others, there is great hatred towards Americans by large segments of the Muslim population. Most recently, a poll from the Center for Security Policy released data showing "25% of those polled agreed that violence against Americans here in the United States is justified as a part of the global jihad" and 51% of those polled, "agreed that Muslims in America should have the choice of being governed according to Shariah." Shariah authorizes such atrocities as murder against non-believers who won't convert, beheadings and more unthinkable acts that pose great harm to Americans, especially women.

Mr. Trump stated, "Without looking at the various polling data, it is obvious to anybody the hatred is beyond comprehension. Where this hatred comes from and why we will have to determine. Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life. If I win the election for President, we are going to Make America Great Again." - Donald J. Trump

— Christina Bellantoni

Cal State San Bernardino will hold a candlelight vigil and moment of silence on campus Monday from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. The vigil is open to the community and will include remarks from university President Tomás D. Morales.

At the San Bernardino County Administration building at 385 N. Arrowhead Blvd., a candlelight vigil is planned for 5 p.m. The gathering will include county employees, local and national labor leaders, elected officials and clergy, among others, according to a news release by the Service Employees International Union, which is sponsoring the memorial.

Also Monday, a 7 p.m. prayer vigil will be held at Our Lady of the Rosary Cathedral at 265 W. 25th St. in San Bernardino.

Chris Megerian, who is covering the California delegation at the climate talks in Paris , spoke with two of the state's leaders about President Obama's Oval Office speech.

Both Senate leader Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) and Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) suggested Congress should take action.

“I think enough is enough. We need the Republicans to stop advocating for the NRA and start advocating for communities around the country,” said de Léon, who told The Times last week he wanted to revisit stalled proposals in Sacramento.

Although Obama needs to deal with ISIS, “Congress can start now by engaging on the issues of bullets, high-powered assault weapons, long guns and handguns that are so pervasive,” he said.

Atkins said the nation's gun laws are "not working."

"It would be good to look at from a federal perspective,” she said.

Atkins said she found Obama’s speech "inspiring," adding, “The best line of the whole speech was, freedom is more powerful than fear.”

Gov. Jerry Brown also weighed in on gun laws from Paris.

— Christina Bellantoni

San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Berguan spoke briefly at the FBI's news conference Monday and said residents should expect to "see an increased police presence" throughout the holiday season.

He alluded to a robbery Sunday evening in Riverside that elicited a massive police response and rattled the nerves of shoppers who mistook the sound of smashing glass for gunshots.

"I think that's indicative of the fact that people are on edge and people are a little extra cautious, which is good. That's what we're asking people to do," Berguan said.

Within the city, he said, "We are getting to the point where we're going to let some of our guys have days off."

"But rest assured," he said, "we will have increased staffing [and] a number of people working overtime to provide safety and security to the region."

— Matt Stevens

Syed Farook, father of one of the attackers in the San Bernardino massacre, was swarmed by reporters as he arrived at his home in Corona on Monday. The elder Farook did not respond to any of their questions.

Investigators seized five guns from the scene of the couple’s final shootout with police and in their home, said Eric Harden, an official with the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Three of those were purchased by Syed Rizwan Farook between 2007 and 2012.

The other two weapons were purchased by another man who is under investigation, authorities said.

Since the shooting, authorities have gathered more than 320 pieces of evidence, including 19 pipes that could have been converted into bombs, and interviewed more than 400 people, FBI Los Angeles Assistant Director in Charge David Bowdich said.

— Joseph Serna

The FBI said Monday that the San Bernardino shooters had both been radicalized "for some time," but investigators are still trying to determine their links to foreign terror organizations.

Officials also said the assailants had gone to gun ranges in the Los Angeles area in the days before Wednesday's massacre that killed 14 people.

Last week’s shooting rampage has cast a fresh spotlight on the teachings of Al Huda, a network of religious schools that has educated thousands of mainly urban, upper-middle-class Pakistani women in a conservative strain of Islam.

The Times reported Sunday that Tashfeen Malik, 29, attended classes at Al Huda while she was enrolled at a university in Multan, Pakistan. A woman who identified herself as director of Al Huda’s office in Multan confirmed Monday that Malik began a two-year course in religious studies in 2013 but left after a few months.

“We had no contact with her afterwards,” said the official, who declined to give her name, citing a school policy.

Pakistani officials and experts who have studied Al Huda say this is the first time it has been linked to a militant attack, and an official with the organization said Monday that it “does not support terrorism.”

Yet experts say Al Huda seminaries promote anti-Western views and hard-line practices – including gender segregation and veils for women – that could encourage some adherents to lash out against non-believers.

“What happens in these Al Huda classes is teaching these urban, educated, upper-middle-class women a very conservative interpretation of Islam that makes them very judgmental about others around them – that it’s their job to go out and reform people and bring them toward the path of true Islam,” said Faiza Mushtaq, a Pakistani scholar who wrote her doctoral dissertation on the organization.

“Nothing that happens in the classroom explains the actions of this woman [Malik] but it can predispose people” to violence, Mushtaq said.

An administrator at Al Huda’s head office in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, said terrorism “is against the teachings of Islam” and the school’s curriculum did not endorse violence.

“We teach them only about the teachings of the Koran and the prophet Muhammad,” the administrator said. “If some former student does something, that is her personal thinking.”

—Aoun Sahi and Shashank Bengali

Authorities leading the investigation into last week's San Bernardino shooting are scheduled to hold a 12 p.m. PT press conference to provide the latest information on the case.

That's one of the questions Tashfeen Malik would have had to answer when applying for the K1 fiance visa to come to the United States.

Learn more about the previously obscure program , and find out what other steps the woman who would join her husband in slaughtering 14 people in San Bernardino would have had to complete to be granted the visa.

— Christina Bellantoni

A friend of one of the San Bernardino shooters entered a mental hospital after the attacks as investigators probed whether he provided two of the weapons recovered after the massacre, according to two law enforcement sources.

The FBI had issued a confidential all points bulletin to local and federal authorities for Enrique Marquez of Riverside after discovering that he had given the assailants two semiautomatic weapons.

One of the sources said federal authorities were able to interview Marquez over the weekend about the gun purchase.

There was no indication at this time that Marquez had any knowledge of the plot, a source said.

—Richard A. Serrano and Richard Winton

The rumors were overwhelming and grim. Around 11 a.m. Wednesday, the team of doctors and surgeons at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center were hearing that as many as 100 gunshot victims could be headed to their facility after a mass shooting in San Bernardino.

With the attackers still at large and reports of a second, then a third shooting site, the medical staff scrambled to prepare for the worst.

“This was a huge mobilization for us, that was in fact the biggest challenge of the day,” said Dr. Kona Seng.”Obviously these were extreme numbers that even for our facility was challenging.”

As it turned out, the hospital would receive six victims of the massacre that killed 14.

On Monday, members of the center’s medical team spoke to the media about their harrowing experience. The shooting was “one of the most horrific ones we have encountered,” said Dr. Dev GnanaDev, chief of surgery of the medical center.

“One of the things that bothers me the most [is] none of the 14 that perished had a chance,” GnanaDev said.

As of Monday, only one of the victims remained in that hospital, officials said.

“It sort of tests your faith in humanity to hear that this happened,” Seng said. “But if you were there and looked into the eyes of those who were working, they put aside all that … to help these people. That sort of restores some of that faith.”

— Veronica Rocha, Joseph Serna and Matt Stevens

U.S. Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch said Monday that the Department of Justice has not determined whether the two San Bernardino shooters were aligned with any one terrorist group, such as Islamic State.

“At this point, we're not prepared to limit any particular ideology to what may have inspired these individuals. There are a number of groups that are on social media looking to encourage people to commit acts of violence within the homeland, and so at this point, we simply do not want to rule anything out.”

Lynch, speaking at a news conference announcing an investigation into Chicago police shootings, warned the public against taking action against Muslims without first involving law enforcement.

“Our concerns are that the understandable fears that are out there after San Bernardino not lead people to either take the law into their hands or to take actions that are not going to be justified,” she said. She said the Department of Justice would take action “when we see rhetoric rising against any particular group in America that it might inspire others to violent action, and that violent action is what we would have to deal with.”

— Timothy M. Phelps

During a morning news conference by San Bernardino County officials, Health Department director Trudy Raymundo, who arrived at an agency training session/holiday party about an hour before it was attacked, said the people in attendance "were upbeat, they were learning from each other, which is indicative of what this group has always been.

"They are beyond co-workers -- they are friends and they are family. They are tight and we are holding on to each other right now because that strength is what is going to help us get through."

— Corina Knoll

At a news conference Monday morning, San Bernardino County officials said they were stepping up security measures in the wake of the mass shooting that killed county employees

James Ramos, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, provided few details, but said “additional security measures are taking place today.” Officials are also “looking at additional features” that could become permanent, he said.

The board also gave direction to its CEO to “expedite” security procedures, such as moving from security "level one" to "level three" Ramos said.

Officials clarified later that the levels referred to the training and capability of hired security guards. They said that there would be a greater number of security guards and many of them would be armed. The sheriff’s department has also increased patrols in the area, officials said.

Ramos said officials would also ask employees “what it is they would like to see that would make them feel safe."

“Certainly, this really hit us hard,” he said.

“The importance of security for our employees is something this board takes very seriously.”

— Matt Stevens

County employees are returning to work today. The staff of the county’s Environmental Health Department, where one of the attackers worked, will return Dec. 14.

The FBI on Sunday seized items from the Riverside home of a friend of one of the San Bernardino shooters as the investigation into the massacre continued.

It was unclear what agents took from the home. The FBI spent several hours there on Saturday, according to neighbors. The agency is trying to determine whether the friend purchased two of the semiautomatic rifles used in the massacre, according to a law enforcement source.

The source said the FBI was seeking to interview Enrique Marquez Jr., who lived at the home and was a friend of Syed Rizwan Farook, though there is no indication at this time he had any knowledge of the plot.

— Richard Winton

It was three years ago this month that Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Assn., enraged gun-control advocates with his defiant assertion that more firepower was the solution to America's wave of mass shootings.

"The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," LaPierre declared at a news conference one week after the shooting that left 26 people, including 20 children, dead at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. La Pierre suggested an armed security officer could have stopped the tragedy, and called for garrisoning police in every school.

Today, those struggling to make sense of the nation's latest massacre face a vexing but unavoidable question: Was LaPierre right?

The murder of 14 people at a social services center in San Bernardino on Wednesday was a grimly familiar entry in America's growing ledger of shooting massacres. As the FBI investigates the assault as an act of terrorism, it has also become a flashpoint in the debate over what, if anything, can be done to stop such killings.

— Peter Jamison

At St. Catherine of Siena Church in Rialto, there was a face missing from the pews — 27-year-old Yvette Velasco of Fontana had been a regular worshiper who attended the church with her family. She was killed in the San Bernardino attack.

The Rev. Rogelio Gonzalez said he spoke recently with Velasco's parents to offer spiritual support. But, he said, "sometimes you have to understand that there is nothing you can do" but be there with them.

In a disconcerting coincidence, staff members working in the church kitchen recognized the health inspector's name signed on the certificate from the San Bernardino County Public Health Department: Syed Farook.

The church took down the certificate and told the county it refused to display it, said the Rev. Stephen Porter. It was just too much.

Federal authorities continued Sunday to scour the backgrounds of the assailants in the San Bernardino shootings to determine what sparked their radical turn and whether they received any outside financial support to carry out the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11.

U.S. Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch said investigators have conducted more than 300 interviews and had gained the cooperation of foreign governments, including Pakistan, as part of the far-reaching probe of Syed Rizwan Farook and his Pakistani wife, Tashfeen Malik. The interior minister of Pakistan, where Malik attended college and Farook's parents were born, also announced the country had launched its own inquiry.

Federal agents seized items Sunday from the Riverside home of Farook's former neighbor, one day after the FBI raided the residence and took away several items to determine whether the neighbor was the source of some of the guns used in the attack, according to a law enforcement source.

As the investigation unfolded, friends and family of the shooters came forward to offer snapshots that may point to what motivated Wednesday's rampage that killed 14 and wounded 21, including Farook's apparent fixation on Israel and Malik's devotion to a fundamentalist strain of Islam.

Lynch, speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press," cautioned against drawing conclusions about the couple and said the probe was a "marathon" effort to chart all aspects of the couple's lives.

"We are trying to learn everything we can about both of these individuals," Lynch said. "We are trying to run everything to ground."