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Mother of San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook sentenced for shredding documents used to plan attack

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Rafia Sultana Shareef, the mother of San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook, was sentenced Thursday for shredding documents used to plan the attack.

Shareef pleaded guilty to a single count of alteration, destruction, and mutilation of records. She has been sentenced to six months of home confinement and three years of probation for shredding a document used to plan the attack. According to the prosecutors, Shareef shredded a document that she believed was a map used by Farook to plan out the attack, though she was not accused of having knowledge of the attack before it occurred. Authorities had managed to put the document back together, which included a diagram of the Inland Regional Center’s conference room where the attack took place, a suggested path for the shooters, and a plan to destroy electronic devices that could be tracked by the authorities [AP].

The original San Bernardino attack took place December 2, 2015 at Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, Calif.  14 civilians were killed and 22 were injured in the attack before Farook and his wife fled the scene. The two were later killed in a police shootout. According to the FBI, the two were likely “homegrown violent extremists” who took inspiration from foreign terrorist groups, but likely had no direct ties to any known terrorist organization.

The Press-Enterprise reported that Shareef apologized to the families of the victims, saying “I pray for each of your family members,” and “I am sorry for what I did.” Rosa Ortiz, whose nephew was killed in the shooting, did not accept her apology, telling her “I hope you live with your guilt the rest of your life.” Shareef’s attorney acknowledged responses like Ortiz’, saying “They are looking for a vessel for that grief, but Mrs. Shareef isn’t a vessel for that grief.”

ARTICLE: RICHARD TILLMAN

POLITICS EDITOR: CARSON CHOATE

PHOTO CREDITS: KTLA

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