San Bernardino shooting updates: Medics determined who had survived in 5 seconds

Could a terrorist organization have funneled money to the San Bernardino shooters through an online lending platform?

That question arose Tuesday after Bloomberg News and others reported that Syed Rizwan Farook received a $28,500 loan from San Francisco online lender Prosper Marketplace just weeks before he and his wife killed more than a dozen victims.

Prosper doesn’t make loans directly, but rather acts as a middleman, matching up borrowers with investors who want to lend. It’s part of a new and fast-growing corner of the online finance world that’s made billions of dollars in loans over the last few years.

For borrowers, who often use the loans for home improvements or to consolidate debt, these so-called peer-to-peer loans are usually faster, more generous and carry lower interest rates than credit cards.

But the firms’ practice of lining up borrowers with investors online has led to speculation that ISIS or another group might have been able to use the platform to finance Farook and Tashfeen Malik’s rampage.

— James Koren

Before anyone checked whether the shooters had left the scene of Wednesday’s massacre, a medic — carrying a rifle and embedded with a SWAT team — hurried into the building and began saving lives.

That man, Ryan Starling of the San Bernardino Fire Department, knew other medical personnel would be ordered to wait at a safe distance. A little while later, a handful of other rescuers saw him and entered too.

In much of the country, fire rescuers are held back in safe “cold” zones, waiting for law enforcement to clear “hot” areas where gunmen are active. Only an elite group of firefighters like Starling enter active scenes.

However, federal recommendations issued in 2013 call for changes so that all fire department medics, working with police, can enter “warm zones” — areas near active shooters where a threat might exist — before the attackers have been fully contained.

“It is almost unacceptable to stand back anymore,” said E. Reed Smith, medical director of the Arlington County Fire Department in Virginia and an advisor on the new guidelines. “The citizen expects us to go to work.”

— Ben Welsh and Tony Barboza

In just four days, the Muslims United for San Bernardino campaign has raised more than $100,000 from more than 1,000 donors across the country, including in Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. The money will be disbursed through San Bernardino County and the United Way to assist victims’ families with funeral expenses and other needs, according to Faisal Qazi, a Pomona-based neurologist who began the crowdfunding effort.

— Teresa Watanabe

“I'll take a bullet before you do, that’s for damn sure,” an officer assured people Wednesday as he ushered them out of the building where a mass shooting had just taken place.

A video clip containing that assurance quickly hit the Internet.

Today he described the situation, recalling that people were scared to move down a corridor at the Inland Regional Center because they feared they would be shot.

“I said what I said,” San Bernardino County sheriff’s Det. Jorge Lozano told reporters. “And I meant what I said.”

“I don’t feel like a hero whatsoever,” he continued. “Anyone behind me … would have said the same thing. That’s our job: to put ourselves in the line of danger to protect the community.”

— Richard Winton and Matt Stevens

On Wednesday, as the water raining down from the overhead sprinklers pooled in rivers of blood and the smell of gunpowder hung in the air, Ryan Starling remembered his training. He got out his white tape.

More than two dozen victims lay on the floor at the Inland Regional Center, the 33-year-old medic recalled Tuesday.

Starling began moving from body to body to determine who might survive.

“In five seconds, you look at their skin color, their breathing and you feel their pulse,” he said. “By all those things, you are determining if they are critical or deceased.”

He marked the dead with white tape so he and other rescuers could focus their efforts on the living.

Just minutes earlier, Starling and his SWAT teammates had been training for just such a grim task — conducting active shooter drills less than 10 miles away. He said that when the first shooting reports arrived, his specialized team, already armed and dressed, switched out simulated ammunition for real rounds and headed to the scene.

— Ben Welsh

A crowd of people gathered Tuesday at a memorial at the corner of Waterman Avenue and Orange Show Road near the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino.

To change the perspective of the video, use the arrow keys at the top left or click and drag with your mouse.

(Video by Dominik Baumann / Blick)

Police in Corona are investigating a domestic violence allegation against the brother of one of the San Bernardino shooters.

Officers were called to the home of Syed Raheel Farook -- the brother of Syed Rizwan Farook -- about 2:30 p.m. Saturday after the purported victim, an unidentified woman, reported a domestic disturbance at the residence, Corona Police Sgt. Paul Mercado said.

Detectives returned to the home Monday afternoon for follow-up interviews. On Tuesday, they forwarded the case to Riverside County prosecutors for a possible charge of misdemeanor domestic battery, Mercado said.

Farook, 30, has not been arrested or charged.

— Matt Hamilton

After the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, many Muslims say they have felt pressure to publicly denounce terrorism. But underlying that pressure is an expectation that they say, “Sorry.”

People who expect Muslims in general to make such an apology are “not bigoted, they’re not racist,” said Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “They’re just misinformed. So we do make a point to tell people that this is not who we are. ... We feel that we owe that to others, as fellow Americans, who share the same country.”

Americans should condemn all acts of violence, he said, but no American should have to apologize for their faith.

— Dexter Thomas

Syed Rizwan Farook got a $28,500 cash loan through WebBank.com weeks before the attack, according to federal officials.

Here is the company's full statement:

"Our hearts and prayers go out to the victims and everyone else impacted by the tragedy in San Bernardino. WebBank evaluates all loan applications in accordance with legal requirements, including U.S. anti-terrorism and anti-money-laundering laws. In addition, the bank continually works with regulators to address their inquiries and concerns and will fully cooperate with law enforcement agencies investigating this matter. However, federal and state law prevents WebBank from publicly commenting on any specific loan borrowers or applicants. As such, the bank will have no further comment at this time."

The San Bernardino social services center where Wednesday’s shooting occurred will not reopen until sometime next year, a spokeswoman for the agency said.

Leeza Hoyt said officials had hoped to reopen the Inland Regional Center this month, but authorities have not “given the site back” yet.

“The process to clean up the building to make sure it’s safe and secure is taking longer than anticipated,” Hoyt said. “And as a result, we will not be able to occupy the buildings until after the first of the year.”

The Inland Regional Center occupies two of the buildings on the larger campus. The third building, which includes the conference center where the shooting occurred, will be closed indefinitely, Hoyt said.

— Matt Stevens

As politicians and gun-control advocates have seized on Wednesday's mass shooting as a reason to restrict firearm access, many of those who live near the site of the tragedy are seeking to arm themselves.

This week, a number of rattled customers have been streaming into gun stores in San Bernardino County, a relatively conservative region where gun culture has taken root more deeply than in California's affluent coastal areas.

"This is basically home protection," said Doug Crossman, a 32-year-old resident of nearby Mentone who was shopping at Gun Boss Armory in Redlands. He said his wife works about a mile from the shooting site and had been badly shaken by it, leading the couple to decide to buy a handgun.

In neighboring Orange County, sheriff's Lt. Jeff Hallock said his office saw 130 applications for concealed-weapons permits last weekend, up from the roughly 30 applications that come in on a typical weekend.

—Los Angeles Times staff

Several weeks before his attack on co-workers in San Bernardino, Syed Rizwan Farook obtained a $28,500 cash loan through a Web lender, two federal officials said Tuesday.

Authorities believe the loan may explain how Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, raised the funds to stockpile weapons and prepare for the attack that killed 14 people and wounded 21.

The two officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly, said investigators now believe that that cash, along with a separate $600 bank withdrawal the night before the shootings, helped the couple acquire rifles from a friend, thousands of rounds of ammunition and parts for pipe bomb explosives.

Other expenses tied to the shooting include the cost for their rental car and target practice at a gun range. Questions had been raised about how they paid for everything on Farook's $52,000-a-year salary as a San Bernardino County health inspector. Malik did not work.

"They also were renting a home and had a new baby," one of the officials said.

The FBI property logs left at the couple's home after it was searched by federal agents list the $600 withdrawal.

"Union bank receipt dated 12/1/15 withdrawal amount of $600.00 @ 1031 pm in Redland, CA," the note says, referring to a transaction from the bank in Redlands the night before the shootings.

The sources said they did not know when the $28,500 loan from WebBank.com was paid out. According to its website, WebBank is an FDIC-insured, state-chartered industrial lending institution headquartered in Salt Lake City. It was organized in 1997 and provides "niche financing to businesses and consumers."

WebBank officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

— Richard Serrano

The last victim of the San Bernardino shooting admitted to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center was discharged Tuesday morning, said San Bernardino County spokeswoman Felisa Cardona. She couldn't provide any additional details about the patient, but hospital officials said that as of Monday, the patient was listed in “good” condition.

In a text message Tuesday afternoon, a hospital spokesman also confirmed that “all patients have been discharged from ARMC.”

Hospital officials said they had discharged five other patients from the attack over the last several days.

Loma Linda University Medical Center spokeswoman Briana Pastorino said tha as of Tuesday morning, the hospital still had three patients who had been wounded in the attack. Two were in critical but stable condition; another was in fair condition, she said. One patient who had been hospitalized Monday night has been moved to a rehabilitation facility, she said.

—Soumya Karlamangla and Matt Stevens

Investigators are trying to determine if the married couple who killed 14 people in a San Bernardino conference room left an explosive device at the scene, hoping it would cause more carnage and possibly kill people rushing to help, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

The use of bombs to target the first law enforcement and rescue personnel on the scene of attacks is a common tactic among terror groups across the Middle East.

A device left at the Inland Regional Center consisted of three pipe bombs attached together with remote control car parts, authorities have said. It was hidden inside a canvas bag left at the massacre scene by Syed Rizwam Farook and Tashfeen Malik, they said.

The build of the device is similar to the schematics for other crude explosives featured in the pages of Al Qaeda's "Inspire" magazine.

The source, who requested anonymity in order to speak candidly about the ongoing investigation, said bomb technicians do not believe that the device would have actually detonated. The building's sprinkler system was set off during the shooting, and water damage could have also caused the device to malfunction, according to the source.

— Richard Winton

Democrats in the House and Senate on Tuesday attempted to call for votes on a bill that would bar people on the FBI's terrorism watch list from purchasing guns.

But when those efforts predictably failed, one California congressman decided to make some noise on the House floor, calling on the chamber to adjourn because it had not addressed the new gun control matters. Rep. Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena) urged his colleagues to vote for the House of Representative to adjourn, despite the fact that members have not voted on a spending bill to avert a government shutdown.

Thompson's motion to adjourn failed 399-0, but not long after, Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) brought a similar motion.

— Sarah Wire and Christine Mai-Duc

Syed Rizwan Farook's sister and mother hope to gain custody of the baby that he and wife Tashfeen Malik left behind, the Council on American-Islamic Relations said in a statement. The organization said it was working to place the 6-month-old girl with a Muslim family while she is with Child Protective Services. A hearing has been scheduled for January.

On Wednesday morning, the couple left their daughter with the child's grandmother in Redlands, saying they had a doctor’s appointment. Soon after, they burst into Farook's office holiday party and opened fire.

As many as four victims of the San Bernardino shooting remain hospitalized, according to recent updates from officials.

Loma Linda University Medical Center spokeswoman Briana Pastorino said the hospital still had three patients as of Tuesday morning. Two were in critical but stable condition; another was in fair condition, she said. One patient who had been hospitalized Monday night has been moved to a rehabilitation facility, she said.

On Monday morning, officials at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center said they received six shooting victims, only one of whom remained in the hospital.

San Antonio Regional Hospital also received two shooting victims, both of whom have been discharged.

9:39 a.m.: This post was updated with a new report from Loma Linda University Medical Center that reduced the number of hospitalized victims from five to four.

Like a devastating earthquake, last week’s mass shooting in San Bernardino continues to produce aftershocks that keep Southern Californians in a state of unease. One of those shock waves rolled through an Advent service at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena on Sunday evening.

— David Horsey

The K-1 immigration visa, issued to men or women seeking to enter the U.S. to marry a citizen, is receiving a lot of scrutiny this week.

That's because Tashfeen Malik, the woman who would later join her husband in slaughtering 14 people in San Bernardino, is a Pakistani national who entered the United States on a K-1 visa, which is also known as the "fiance" or "fiancee" visa.

— Matt Pearce