Syed Rizwan Farook recently took out a $28,500 loan from an online lender, a source said on Tuesday, before he and his wife killed 14 of his co-workers at a holiday party in San Bernardino, California.
One of the Reuters government sources said Farook and Malik apparently pursued a scenario previously followed by U.S.-based militants by draining their bank accounts and taking credit lines to their maximums before embarking on what they believe was a suicide mission, knowing that they would not have to repay the debts.
Farook, the U.S.-born son of Pakistani immigrants, and Malik, who was born in Pakistan and spent most of her life in Saudi Arabia, died in a shootout with police several hours after their attack last Wednesday morning at the Inland Regional Center social services agency in San Bernardino, about 60 miles east of Los Angeles.