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As Details Emerge About San Bernardino Suspects, Motives Remain Unclear

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

We go now to Saul Gonzalez, who works for our radio station KCRW in Southern California and who is in San Bernardino now. Saul, what can you tell us about these two young people? The president said that their motives are not known - possibly terrorist related, possibly workplace related. Does any of that - have you learned anything about these folks that could tell you?

SAUL GONZALEZ, BYLINE: Well, let me tell you where I am first. I'm about a mile, mile and a half west of the shooting scene at the Inland Regional Center. We're waiting for a press conference at the top of the hour. Here's what I can tell you about Mr. Syed Farook - 28 years old, worked for the County of San Bernardino for the past five years. He was an environmental inspector, the kind of guy who goes in to inspect, as I understand it, restaurants, maybe - it's been reported he's also inspected pools. In terms of his personality, he was known as a quiet worker, an unassuming guy, a guy who was not given to hotheadedness. And then there's his wife, Tashfeen Malik, also in her 20s - not as much information about her. Apparently, the couple were in Saudi Arabia the past year and they have a 6-month-old child. And before this incident, they reportedly dropped off the child at the home of the grandmother in Redland, which is an adjacent community to San Bernardino.

WERTHEIMER: But no sense from that end about motive, no sense about why they did what they did?

GONZALEZ: Not at all, just a lot of questions as to - you know, apparently, there was words exchanged at this holiday party yesterday at the Inland Regional Center. He left - Syed Farook left and came back with his wife and came back well-armed and in some sort of a combat garb. And the question is, how does an argument or exchange of words at an office holiday party - for heaven's sakes - turn into something like this? So there are a lot of questions about just the level of preparation and the armament involved. It seems to be more than a guy got angry and came back with a weapon. There seems to be a bit more to it than that.

WERTHEIMER: Yes, yes.

GONZALEZ: But again, there might be more information at the top of the hour.

WERTHEIMER: Saul Gonzales from KCRW. He's reporting from San Bernardino. Steve?

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And let's just remember that we've heard in the last few minutes from President Obama, who said today that it is simply too easy to commit gun violence in this country, urging Americans to do something about it, although it is not politically clear what that could be, also adding a bit of information, saying that there were additional weapons at the home of the couple who were believed to be at the center of this incident. Again, their names, Syed Rizwan Farook, Tashfeen Malik, 28 and 27 years old, a married couple who left behind, when they were killed yesterday, a 6-month-old daughter. Fourteen people were killed in the shooting at the San Bernardino center, and 17 wounded. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.