2015 San Bernardino attack

The 2015 San Bernardino attack which occurred on 2 December 2015, was a terrorist mass shooting at a San Bernardino County Department of Public Health training event and Christmas party in the Inland Regional Center in which 14 people were killed and 22 others were seriously injured.

2015



 * Police officials said that two suspects, Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, were armed with two semiautomatic rifles and two semiautomatic handguns. The semiautomatic rifles were a .223-caliber DPMS Model A15 and a Smith & Wesson M&P15. One of the handguns was manufactured by Llama, and the other by Smith & Wesson.


 * The suspects arrived at the Inland Regional Center at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, armed with the four guns and wearing masks. Chief Burguan said the suspects were wearing “tactical vests,” with pockets for spare magazines and other equipment. The two handguns that were recovered were bought by Mr. Farook, and all four weapons were bought legally, Chief Burguan said. A senior federal law enforcement official said the assault rifles were bought by a third person who is not considered a suspect. Officials said the two assault rifles were variants of the AR-15, the semiautomatic version of the military M-16 rifle; one was made by DPMS Panther Arms, and the other was a Smith & Wesson M&P model, a designation meaning military and police. The senior law enforcement official said one handgun was made by Llama, and the other by Smith & Wesson.


 * Law enforcement specialists who briefed congressional officials on Thursday said that Mr. Farook bought two pistols legally and that another person bought the two .223-caliber rifles — a DPMS A-15 and Smith & Wesson M&P15 — legally.


 * The suspects in the San Bernardino holiday party shooting were armed with four guns, an explosive device and several magazines of ammunition in a “well-planned” attack, police and federal officials said. Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, a U.S.-born health inspector for San Bernardino County, and Tashfeen Malik, 27, were carrying two .223-caliber assault rifles and two semi-automatic handguns... San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said the two .223-caliber assault rifles were a DPMS model and a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 model, while the two semi-automatic hand guns were manufactured by llama and Smith & Wesson.


 * A carveout in a California gun law reportedly allowed for the legal purchase of two assault-style rifles that were used in the San Bernardino shooting Wednesday, which killed 14 people and injured 21 others, though the weapons were later altered illegally. Many guns in the style of the two AR-15 semiautomatic rifles, a .223-caliber DPMS Model A15 and a Smith & Wesson M&P15, are banned under a 1989 California gun law targeting assault weapons. The law specifically targets assault rifles with magazines that are detachable by hand, in order to prevent users from reloading quickly and inflicting mass damage.


 * The husband and wife responsible for killing 14 people in a shooting in San Bernardino this week tried to illegally modify a semi-automatic rifle to turn it into a machine gun, federal authorities said Friday. A Smith & Wesson M&P15 found with the couple after a gun battle with police Wednesday was altered in an attempt to enable the weapon to be fired automatically, said Meredith Davis, a spokeswoman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The modification is illegal under federal law, she said. Initial tests, she said, show that the modification did not work and the gun could not be fired automatically, Davis said. She said more tests were yet to be done. A DPMS Model A-15 rifle also found with the couple after the shootout had been altered to accept a high-capacity magazine that is illegal under California law, she said.


 * Police said the two attackers were armed with two semiautomatic rifles and two semiautomatic handguns. The handguns were legally purchased by Farook, a federal law enforcement official said, and purchased at Annie's Get Your Gun in Corona. The two rifles were purchased by someone other than the shooters, said Meredith Davis, a spokeswoman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. She declined to identify the person and said federal agents have located the person and plan to conduct an interview. At the pair's townhouse in Redlands, investigators recovered a fifth firearm, a .22-caliber rifle, Davis said. The semiautomatic rifles were a .223-caliber DPMS Model A-15 and a Smith & Wesson M&P15. One of the 9 mm handguns was manufactured by Llama and the other was by Springfield Armory. The DPMS Model A-15 found with the couple after the shootout had been altered to accept a high-capacity magazine illegal under California law, Davis said. The Smith & Wesson M&P15 also found with the couple was altered in an attempt to enable the weapon to be fired automatically, Davis said, like a machine gun. The modification is illegal under federal law, she said, adding that initial tests show that the modification did not work and the rifle could not be fired automatically. More tests are yet to be done, she said.


 * Their weapons: The suspects had two .223 rifles and two 9 mm pistols. The two handguns were purchased by the man, while the two rifles were not. All four guns were legally purchased, according to officials. The rifles were a .223-caliber DPMS Model A15 and a Smith & Wesson M&P15. One of the semiautomatic handguns was manufactured by Llama, and the other by Smith & Wesson.

We also need to make it harder for people to buy powerful assault weapons like the ones that were used in San Bernardino. I know there are some who reject any gun safety measures. But the fact is that our intelligence and law enforcement agencies — no matter how effective they are — cannot identify every would-be mass shooter, whether that individual is motivated by ISIL or some other hateful ideology. What we can do — and must do — is make it harder for them to kill.
 * Congress should act to make sure no one on a no-fly list is able to buy a gun. What could possibly be the argument for allowing a terrorist suspect to buy a semi-automatic weapon? This is a matter of national security.
 * President Barack Obama, in an address to the Nation on San Bernardino (6 December 2015)


 * Acquaintance Enrique Marquez had given the couple the semiautomatic Smith & Wesson M&P15 and .223-caliber DPMS A-15 rifles, authorities said. Until a few months ago, Farook and Malik lived in Riverside, next door to Marquez. Farook, observed as quiet and withdrawn, struck up a friendship with Marquez, who shared a similar interest in tinkering with cars, a neighbor recalled. Federal authorities interviewed Marquez over the weekend, and a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation said the weapons he gave to Farook were legally purchased in 2011 and 2012. There is no paperwork of them being transferred to Farook, he said.


 * The New York City public advocate on Monday asked federal regulators to investigate whether the gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson had made adequate disclosures in its financial statements. In an eight-page letter, the public advocate, Letitia James, said the Securities and Exchange Commission should examine whether Smith & Wesson misrepresented or omitted information about how often its products are involved in crimes and what it has done to keep its guns out of the hands of criminals. Shareholders would want to know whether Smith & Wesson faced heightened regulatory scrutiny or significant litigation risk, Ms. James said in the letter. Nearly two weeks ago, a terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif., left 14 people dead and provoked a fresh outcry about gun violence in America.

2016

 * The Shooter Had a Powerful Rifle and High-Capacity Magazines The gunman was armed with an AR-15-type semiautomatic rifle and a 9 millimeter handgun, Chief Mina said. AR-15s, which were first developed for the military and used extensively in the Vietnam War, are widely owned by assault-rifle enthusiasts. The rifle, which can rapidly fire multiple high-velocity rounds, has been used in a number of mass shootings, including those in Aurora, Colo.; Newtown, Conn.; and San Bernardino, Calif.


 * In recent years, the AR-15 has become, simultaneously, one of most beloved and most vilified rifles in the country. It is no surprise why the gun is so reviled by gun control advocates. Omar Mateen, the gunman in the attack this weekend on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., used a spin-off of the rifle produced by SIG Sauer to kill nearly 50 people. The military-style weapon has also been the gun of choice in several other mass shootings: at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.; at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo.; at a holiday party for county health workers in San Bernardino, Calif.; and at the campus of Umpqua Community College in Oregon.


 * The AR-15 was among the weapons used by Islamic terrorists Syed Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Malik, 27, when they opened fire at a social services center in San Bernardino, Calif., in December. They killed 14.


 * It was used to slaughter first graders at Sandy Hook, murder Batman fans at Colorado movie theater, kill county workers at a holiday party in San Bernardino. Now a descendant of the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle — a Sig Sauer MCX — has the dubious distinction of being the weapon of choice for a homosexual-hating gunman named Omar Mateen who is being blamed for the worst single-day mass shooting in U.S. history.


 * America has grown accustomed to military-style semi-automatic weapons such as the AR-15. It's not hard to see why: These firearms have been heavily marketed to gun owners. But at the same time, they're often the weapons of choice for mass murderers. In an all-too familiar pattern, Omar Mateen, the gunman in the Orlando nightclub massacre, used one of these weapons, Sig Sauer's MCX (a version of the AR-15 rifle), in his deadly attack on Sunday. The AR-15 has grown so popular that the pro-gun lobby National Rifle Association has termed it "America's rifle." The AR-15 and its variants have been used in a number of mass shootings, ranging from the Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school tragedy to the San Bernardino, California, attack in December.


 * The AR-15 is America’s most popular rifle. It has also been the weapon of choice in mass shootings from Sandy Hook to Aurora to San Bernardino.


 * The Orlando and San Bernardino mass shootings, especially when viewed alongside similar carnage in Paris, make clear that individuals inspired by terrorist groups have eagerly adopted the military-style semi-automatic rifle, capable of shooting multiple rounds of bullets quickly and accurately, as a tool to produce maximum fatalities, mayhem, and fear. We are almost certain to see more such attacks, and as the Orlando event illustrates, they are extremely difficult to prevent, even when a person has been under suspicion, in part because they can be carried out without significant advance coordination or planning.

2017

 * AR-15 style rifles have been the weapon of choice in many recent mass shootings, including the Texas church shooting Sunday, the Las Vegas concert last month, the Orlando nightclub last year and Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. Here is a list of mass shootings in the U.S. that featured AR-15-style rifles during the last 35 years, courtesy of the Stanford Geospatial Center and Stanford Libraries and USA TODAY research: Feb. 24, 1984: Tyrone Mitchell, 28, used an AR-15, a Stoeger 12-gauge shotgun and a Winchester 12-gauge shotgun to kill two and wound 12 at 49th Street Elementary School in Los Angeles before killing himself. Oct. 7, 2007: Tyler Peterson, 20, used an AR-15 to kill six and injure one at an apartment in Crandon, Wis., before killing himself. June 20, 2012: James Eagan Holmes, 24, used an AR-15-style .223-caliber Smith and Wesson rifle with a 100-round magazine, a 12-gauge Remington shotgun and two .40-caliber Glock semi-automatic pistols to kill 12 and injure 58 at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo. Dec. 14, 2012: Adam Lanza, 20, used an AR-15-style rifle, a .223-caliber Bushmaster, to kill 27 people — his mother, 20 students and six teachers — in Newtown, Conn., before killing himself. June 7, 2013: John Zawahri, 23, used an AR-15-style .223-caliber rifle and a .44-caliber Remington revolver to kill five and injure three at a home in Santa Monica, Calif., before he was killed. March 19, 2015: Justin Fowler, 24, used an AR-15 to kill one and injure two on a street in Little Water, N.M., before he was killed. May 31, 2015: Jeffrey Scott Pitts, 36, used an AR-15 and .45-caliber handgun to kill two and injure two at a store in Conyers, Ga., before he was killed. Oct. 31, 2015: Noah Jacob Harpham, 33, used an AR-15, a .357-caliber revolver and a 9mm semi-automatic pistol to kill three on a street in Colorado Springs, Colo., before he was killed. Dec. 2, 2015: Syed Rizwyan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, 28 and 27, used two AR-15-style, .223-caliber Remington rifles and two 9 mm handguns to kill 14 and injure 21 at his workplace in San Bernardino, Calif., before they were killed. June 12, 2016: Omar Mateen, 29, used an AR-15 style rifle (a Sig Sauer MCX), and a 9mm Glock semi-automatic pistol to kill 49 people and injure 50 at an Orlando nightclub before he was killed. Oct. 1, 2017: Stephen Paddock, 64, used a stockpile of guns including an AR-15 to kill 58 people and injure hundreds at a music festival in Las Vegas before he killed himself. Nov. 5, 2017: Devin Kelley, 26, used an AR-15 style Ruger rifle to kill 26 people at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, before he was killed. Feb. 14, 2018: Police say Nikolas Cruz, 19, used an AR-15-style rifle to kill at least 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.


 * Americans who know nothing else about firearms are all too familiar with the name AR-15. It’s the semi-automatic weapon that murderers have used in many of the most notorious and highest-casualty gun killings of recent years: Aurora, Colorado. Newtown, Connecticut. Orlando, Florida. San Bernardino, California. Now, with modified versions, in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Sutherland Springs, Texas.
 * James Fallows.


 * It’s important to understand how we got where we are today. In 1966, the unthinkable happened: a madman climbed the University of Texas clock tower and opened fire, killing more than a dozen people. It was the first mass shooting in the age of television, and it left a real impression on the country. It was the kind of terror we didn’t expect to ever see again. But around 30 years ago, we started to see an uptick in these types of shootings, and over the last decade they’ve become the new norm. In July 2012, a gunman walked into a darkened theater in Aurora and shot 12 people to death, injuring 70 more. One of his weapons was an assault rifle. The sudden and utterly random violence was a terrifying sign of what was to come. In December 2012, a young man entered an elementary school in Newtown and murdered six educators and 20 young children. One of his weapons was an assault rifle. Watching the aftermath of these young babies being gunned down was heartrending. In June 2016, a gunman entered a nightclub in Orlando and sprayed revelers with gunfire. The shooter fired hundreds of rounds, many in close proximity, and killed 49. Many of the victims were shot in the head at close range. One of his weapons was an assault rifle. Last month, a gunman opened fire on concertgoers in Las Vegas, turning an evening of music into a killing field. All told, the shooter used multiple assault rifles fitted with bump-fire stocks to kill 58 people. The concert venue looked like a warzone. Over the weekend in Sutherland Springs, 26 were killed by a gunman with an assault rifle. The dead ranged from 17 months old to 77 years. No one is spared with these weapons of war. When so many rounds are fired so quickly, no one is spared. Another community devastated and dozens of families left to pick up the pieces. These are just a few of the many communities we talk about in hushed tones — San Bernardino, Littleton, Aurora, towns and cities across the country that have been permanently scarred.
 * Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, on the introduction of the Assault Weapons Ban of 2017, a bill to ban the sale, transfer, manufacture and importation of military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines.

2018

 * The nation's mass-shooting problem seems to be getting worse. And the latest, most serious shootings all seem to have one new thing in common: the AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle. The AR-15 typically has large magazines, shoots rounds at higher velocities than handguns, and leaves more complex wounds in victims. In each one of the older shootings on the 10-deadliest list — including the 2007 attack on Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., that left 32 victims dead — the shooters carried handguns. (The exception is the 1984 San Ysidro massacre, where the gunman also used a shotgun and an Uzi semiautomatic carbine.) But in all of the latest incidents — Newtown, Conn., in 2012; San Bernardino, Calif., in 2015; Orlando, Fla., in 2016; Las Vegas, 2017; Sutherland Springs, Texas, 2017 — the attackers primarily used AR-15 semiautomatic rifles. There are a couple of theories that might suggest why AR-15s would be associated with deadlier attacks. AR-15 rifles shoot small but high-velocity .223-caliber rounds that often shatter inside victims' bodies, creating more devastating injuries than the wounds typically left by larger but lower-velocity handgun rounds. Shooters also commonly use the rifles with 30-round magazines, which allow them to fire more rounds uninterrupted, compared with the smaller magazines commonly used in handguns.


 * Six of the 10 deadliest mass shootings in the U.S. over the past decade have used an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle. The latest instance was Wednesday’s high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, which left 17 dead and 14 others injured. The gun used in the shooting was a Smith and Wesson M&P AR-15, federal law enforcement officials told the Associated Press. The same model weapon was used in previous mass shootings, including the Aurora, Colo., movie theater shooting that claimed 12 lives and the rampage in San Bernardino, Calif., that claimed 14. These rifles and other versions of the AR-15 are the civilian equivalent of fully-automatic M16 rifles used by the U.S. military since the Vietnam War. They are fancied by gun owners because they are typically easy to purchase — often for less than $1,000 — and can be customized with a number of accessories, such as bump stocks, which essentially convert the semi-automatic weapons into fully-automatics. A bump stock was deployed by the assailant in the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, which left 58 dead, making it the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history. Up until that point, the country’s deadliest mass shooting had occurred just a year prior at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, where the perpetrator used an SIG MCX semi-automatic rifle — highly similar to AR-15s in aesthetic and purpose — to kill 49 people. Comparable weapons were also used at Sandy Hook Elementary School (27 dead) and a Sutherland Springs, Texas, church (25 dead). The high number of fatalities in these incidents highlight how AR-15-style guns, much like their M16 cousin, are capable of inflicting serious damage to a number of people at once. “For practical purposes, for the person that’s just tuning in, the non-gun owner, it’s a very similar type of firearm,” Rob Pincus, who has made a career out of training armed professionals, told TIME.


 * Newtown. San Bernardino. Las Vegas. Sutherland Springs. And now, Parkland. Five of the six deadliest mass shootings of the past six years in the United States. In each of them, the gunman had an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle.


 * DEC. 2, 2015 Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, husband and wife, killed 14 people at a holiday office party in San Bernardino, Calif. Four guns were recovered: a Smith & Wesson M&P assault rifle, a DPMS Panther Arms assault rifle, a Smith & Wesson handgun and a Llama handgun. BEFORE THE SHOOTING “We believe that both subjects were radicalized and for quite some time,” said David Bowdich, the F.B.I. assistant director. The attackers are not known to have had previous contact with law enforcement. BETWEEN 2007 AND 2012 Mr. Farook bought the two handguns legally in California, federal officials said. The guns were purchased at Annie’s Get Your Gun, a gun store in Corona, Calif., The Los Angeles Times reported. BETWEEN 2007 AND 2012 Enrique Marquez, a former neighbor of Mr. Farook’s family, bought the two assault rifles in California, officials said. Mr. Marquez was later charged with lying about the rifle purchases and supplying the assault weapons to the attackers. DEC. 2, 2015 The couple killed 14 people at a holiday party. Moments before the attack began, Ms. Malik posted an oath of allegiance to the Islamic State on Facebook.


 * AR-15-style rifles have become something of a weapon of choice for mass shooters. One was used last year to kill 26 people during Sunday morning church services in Sutherland Springs, Texas, and it was among the stockpile of firearms used a month earlier to kill 58 concertgoers in Las Vegas. AR-15-style rifles were also used at the shootings at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida; at an employee training in San Bernardino, California, and at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.


 * Between 2007 and 2012: Mr. Farook bought the two handguns legally in California, federal officials said. The guns were purchased at Annie’s Get Your Gun, a gun store in Corona, Calif., The Los Angeles Times reported. Between 2007 and 2012: Enrique Marquez, a former neighbor of Mr. Farook’s family, bought the two assault rifles in California, officials said. Mr. Marquez was later charged with lying about the rifle purchases and supplying the assault weapons to the attackers.


 * Following news reports that the AR-15 style rifle used in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida was a Smith & Wesson M&P15 assault rifle, the Violence Policy Center (VPC) today released Understanding the Smith & Wesson M&P15 Semiautomatic Assault Rifle. According to the VPC backgrounder, “The Smith & Wesson M&P15 assault rifle demonstrates the clear and present danger of a gun designed for war and ruthlessly marketed for profit to civilians.” The same model assault rifle was also used in an attack that left 12 dead at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado in 2012 and in a mass shooting at a community center in San Bernardino, California in 2015 that left 14 dead.


 * Stocks were up Thursday for American Outdoor Brands, the company that makes the AR-15 rifle used in the Florida school shooting that claimed 17 lives. The company’s shares closed up 1.49%, netting the company an additional $8.8 million on the day. The Associated Press reported that accused gunman Nikolas Cruz used a Smith & Wesson M&P15 rifle – a variant of the AR-15 – during his allegedly shooting spree at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Wednesday. Smith & Wesson, which was founded in 1852, is a Springfield, Mass.-based holding of American Outdoor Brands.... Shares of American Outdoor Brands closed 5.6% higher on Wednesday, the day of the shooting. It’s not uncommon for gun maker shares to rise following a mass shooting as people are likely to stock up fearing potential gun control measures. This is the third time an M&P15 has been used in a mass shooting in the United States. James E. Holmes, who was convicted of killing 12 and wounding 70 in the 2012 Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooting, used a Smith & Wesson M&P15 rifle. An illegally modified Smith & Wesson M&P15 Sport rifle was recovered by law enforcement officials after the 2015 San Bernardino shooting, where 14 people were killed.


 * AR-15-style rifles have been used in recent mass shootings at in Aurora, Colo.; Santa Monica and San Bernardino, Calif.; Orlando, Florida and now Parkland.


 * A quick Google search shows that P. James Debney is the CEO and president of American Outdoor Brands, which until last year was named Smith & Wesson. By whatever name, the company Debney heads manufactured the AR-15 assault rifle that Cruz used to kill 14 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students and three staff members.... Debney kept selling assault rifles as if he were just selling more plastic after a madman with a Smith & Wesson assault rifle murdered 12 people in an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater....The company’s profits came to include the sale of the M&P15 that was used in the 2015 terror attack in San Bernardino. Fifteen were murdered.... Smith & Wesson did experience a modest bump after a madman used one of its M&P15s to murder 14 students and three staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High on Valentine’s Day.


 * Beginning Thursday, a group of students will march westward a quarter of the way across Massachusetts in the latest act of a national, youth-led campaign to save lives and change the conversation about gun violence.... The activists have two main goals. The first is to get Smith & Wesson to agree to stop manufacturing military-style weapons like the M&P 15, an AR-15-style rifle that has been used in a number of recent high-profile shootings, including in Parkland, Florida, in February, in San Bernardino, California, in 2015, and in Aurora, Colorado, in 2012. The second is for Smith & Wesson to donate $5 million to study gun violence and other crimes involving the company’s firearms.


 * ... we are all seeking solutions to the epidemic of gun violence in our country....The majority of guns used in crimes in major U.S. cities are AOBC guns. AOBC’s AR-15 style rifle was used in mass shootings in Parkland, Florida, San Bernardino, California and Aurora, Colorado. These are only a few of the most recent and highest profile violent incidents involving AOBC products that present grave financial and reputational risks. Each event brings new threats of lawsuits, boycotts, divestment and demonstrations - and along with them, a wave of damaging news stories about gun companies and their inability to make their products safer for civilians, and most critically, to help prevent their misuse by children.
 * Sister Judy Byron, Adrian Dominican Sisters, director of the Northwest Coalition for Responsible Investments, addressing the American Outdoor Brands Corporation annual shareholders meeting, September 25, 2018