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 Tashfeen Malik, 27, and her husband Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, who
had a 6-month-old daughter together, were killed in a shootout with
police after the massacre at the Inland Regional Center social
services agency in the city of San Bernardino.
Research conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the New
York Police Department and others show that mass shooters in recent
decades are overwhelmingly male.
"It surprised me; it has not been the pattern," said Brian Jenkins,
an expert on militant attacks and senior adviser to the president of
Rand Corp. "It is very unusual. Shootings tend to be a male
activity."
According to a report from the NYPD, only eight of 230 "active
shooter" cases in the United States from 1966 to 2012 involved
female attackers. (http://on.nyc.gov/1NBi9gM)
A study of 160 active shooter situations between 2000 and 2013 by
the FBI showed that just six involved women.
(http://1.usa.gov/1GkcHHH)
Women shooters are remembered easily by experts, in large part due
to their rarity. Brenda Spencer killed two and wounded eight
children in a California schoolyard in 1979; Laurie Dann terrorized
the village of Winnetka, Illinois, in 1988, tried to firebomb a
school and shot six children, killing one.
The reasons why women are rarely shooters are myriad, experts say,
and it is hard to pinpoint any single factor. Some say men are more
likely to express indiscriminate rage outwardly than women or that
they identify more with guns.
"Our gun culture is very heavily masculine," said Deniese
Kennedy-Kollar, assistant professor of criminal justice at Molloy
College in Rockville Centre, New York. "It is seen as manly to be
identified with guns."
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Much remains unclear about Wednesday's attack, including Malik's
exact role and motives. The couple had more than 6,000 rounds of
ammunition and a dozen pipe bombs on them and elsewhere, authorities
said on Thursday as they sought to determine if the pair had links
to Islamic militant groups.
There was so far no hard evidence of a direct connection between the
shooters and any militant group abroad, but officials close to the
investigation said electronics found at a townhouse used by the
couple would be checked to see if they browsed jihadist websites.
CNN, citing law enforcement sources, said Farook had been
"radicalized" and had been in touch through telephone and social
media with more than one international terrorism suspect who was
being investigated by the FBI.
A couple acting together is very uncommon, experts said. Some
wondered if Malik had gone along with a plan hatched by her husband.
It was his work party that was targeted.
"In a case like this, almost always the male is the driving force,"
Kennedy-Kollar said.
(Reporting by Edward McAllister in New York; Editing by Lisa
Shumaker)
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