One of the San Bernardino mass shooters had several photos of a nearby high school on his cell phone according to multiple reports.
Sources with knowledge of the FBI’s investigation have revealed that Syed Farook, who was identified as one of the people responsible for the Dec. 2 attack, had multiple exterior shots of Carter High School on his phone, according to the San Bernardino Sun.
The revelation was enough to prompt authorities to search the school building for explosives on Dec. 7. The school, located in Rialto, Calif., is just a 20 minute drive from Farook’s Redlands, Calif. home.
Carter is not the first school that has been searched as information comes out of the FBI investigation. Farook worked as a health inspector for the San Bernardino County Department of Health, which gave him access to most of the buildings in Rialto Unified School District and San Bernardino City Unified School District.
Immediately after the shooting, Rialto’s schools were placed on “high alert” as additional law enforcement and school security were brought in.
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On Dec. 3 bomb sniffing canine units from the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians searched areas of Arroyo Valley High School after it was discovered that Farook had inspected the school on Oct. 23. The San Bernardino City Unified School District Police Department searched nine other campuses in the district that Farook had inspected in the last two months. They have all been cleared and it has been determined there is no threat.
Two U.S. officials also told CNN that Farook may have been plotting an attack in Calif. as early as 2012. In that instance Farook and another person had reportedly considered a specific target before backing off when a series of terror-related arrests got them “spooked.” FBI officials have said they have no definitive evidence that schools were targets the shooters were considering, although they have said they believe Farook had been radicalized for years. Farook and his wife had spent a year preparing for their attack by practicing at a gun range and making financial plans for their death, according to NBC News.
The SBCUSD Police Department patrols each of the district’s nine high schools with a police officer and at least six campus security officers during operating hours. The district’s 11 middle schools have two campus security officers on each site. The department has a radio dispatch and alarm monitoring center in operation 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
