Two law enforcement officials say a homemade bomb left behind by the pair responsible for the San Bernardino mass shooting was too poorly built to detonate. The failure prompted 28-year-old Syed Rizwan Farook and 29-year-old Tashfeen Malik to drive around the area following the shooting, not straying too far from the actual site, in an attempt to detonate the remote-controlled bomb, according to FOX's Sacramento affiliate KTXL-TV.
The explosive, described as three pipe bombs constructed with Christmas tree lights, attached to a remote-control toy car, was found at the scene of the shooting with the device switched to "on." The associated remote was discovered inside of their rented SUV following the shootout. Their alleged plan was to kill emergency responders as they arrived to the scene.
This plan is strikingly similar to an aborted 2012 plan that Farook had cooked up with longtime friend Enrique Marquez, who has been charged with purchasing the weapons used in the attack and is suspected of knowing about the actual attack but failing to report it. In their plan, the two intended to blow up a freeway and then shoot emergency responders from a vantage point, according to Newsmax.
With one question solved, there are still others authorities are trying to solve. Particularly, what the couple had been been doing during the 18 minutes between the attack that left 14 dead, and the shootout that erupted soon afterward.
Between 12:59 p.m. and 1:17 p.m., the FBI knows the pair drove around a 20-mile area, never straying too far from the location of their initial attack. However, they are unaware of what locations that they actually visited and fear they may have met with someone, went to a drop-off point or visited a residence, according to the Associated Press.
The only location authorities know that the pair went to for certain is a nearby lake, which they suspected was used to hide electronic devices. However, a dive team's search for any such devices were unsuccessful.
Overall, the lack of electronic evidence has been crippling for investigators. The computer's hard drive is confirmed missing, but hasn't been found and the couple's cellphones were so badly crushed that investigators have been unable to conduct a forensic examination on them.
