NEW YORK—The husband-and-wife team who killed 14 people and wounded 21 others this month in San Bernardino, California, communicated privately about jihad and martyrdom before they were married, but there is no evidence to suggest the couple revealed those thoughts publicly on social media, the FBI director said Wednesday.
“We can see from our investigation that in late 2013, before there is a physical meeting of these two people resulting in their engagement and then their journey to the United States, they’re communicating online, showing signs in their communication of their joint commitment to jihad and to martyrdom,” James Comey said after a New York conference involving the city’s police department and private businesses.
Comey said those messages between Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik were direct, private messages.
“So far, in this investigation we have found no evidence of posting on social media by either of them at that period in time and thereafter reflecting their commitment to jihad or to martyrdom,” he said.
Comey appeared to be referring to media reports suggesting that Malik had spoken openly on social media about jihad and that background checks had not detected those comments.
