FBI Says Shooters Who Carried Out San Bernardino Attack Had Been 'Radicalized'

The FBI said in a statement this week that the husband and wife team who carried out the recent mass shooting in San Bernardino, California had been "radicalized" by extremist Islamists.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said during a press coference this week that the couple, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, had been radicalized and had practiced their shooting skills at local gun ranges in the Los Angeles area.

"As the investigation has progressed, we have learned and believe that both subjects were radicalized and have been for quite some time," David Bowdich, the F.B.I. assistant director overseeing the Los Angeles office, said in a statement this week, as reported by the New York Times.

Bowdich added that one of the target practices took place within days of the shooting, saying "that target practice in one occasion happened within days of this event."

The comments from the FBI come after President Barack Obama addressed the nation in a rare Oval Office speech this past Sunday, describing the San Bernardino shooting as "an act of terrorism, designed to kill innocent people."

"The FBI is still gathering the facts about what happened in San Bernardino, but here's what we know: The victims were brutally murdered and injured by one of their co-workers and his wife," the president continued. "So far we have no evidence that the killers were directed by a terrorist organization overseas, or that they were part of a broader conspiracy here at home."