FBI Convinced Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik Tried to Detonate Bomb During San Bernardino Attack (VIDEO)

Reportedly Syed Farook placed a backpack full of bombs under a table during the holiday party, then left the scene and came back with Tashfeen to launch the attack.

At the Los Angeles Times, "FBI is now convinced that couple tried to detonate bomb in San Bernardino terror attack":

The FBI's top investigator in the San Bernardino terrorist attack said Friday that the husband and wife who shot and killed 14 people on Dec. 2 intended to detonate an explosive device inside the room, though the exact timetable of the plot remains unclear.

David Bowdich, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said Friday that investigators now believe that Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, attempted to detonate a pipe bomb hidden inside a bag at the Inland Regional Center.

What investigators still don't know is whether they planned to detonate the bomb first and then open fire on first responders, or to detonate the device as paramedics and police descended on the facility to tend to gunshot victims.

“Was the intent to detonate prior to their attack?” Bowdich asked. “We just don’t have the answer.”

During a news briefing last week, Bowdich said Farook brought a bag containing the pipe bomb into the facility when he arrived at 8:37 a.m. An FBI affidavit said the device was made of three galvanized steel pipes and smokeless powder and was attached to a remote-control toy car. The bomb was “armed and ready to detonate.”

Agents found a remote control for a toy car in the couple’s SUV, the affidavit said.

But this marks the first time officials have said they believe the couple attempted to detonate the device.

Farook and Malik drove around San Bernardino and Redlands between the time of the attack and their deaths in a gun battle with police hours later. In that three-hour, 42-minute window, the couple did not stray far from the facility, according to Bowdich. At one point, they even returned to Waterman Avenue and drove in the direction of the building.

A federal law enforcement source previously told The Times that it is possible the couple were unable to detonate the device because the remote was out of range. Sprinklers that went off after the shooting could have also interfered with the explosives, said the source, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about an active investigation.

Bowdich said it may be impossible for investigators to determine the couple’s exact plans for use of the bomb, as they have recovered no documents, schematics or other electronic data that reveal planning for the assault.

“And I will be quite frank. I am not sure we will ever know that answer,” he said Friday...

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