Ex-coworker: Suspected San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook attended same holiday party in 2014

The San Bernardino Inland Regional Center, where 14 people were murdered on Dec. 2

(Image credit: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images)

Syed Farook, named by unidentified sources as one of the shooters at the San Bernardino Inland Regional Center, had recently returned from paternity leave to his job as a food inspector for the San Bernardino public health department, whose holiday party was the scene of the massacre, former colleague Griselda Resigner tells the Los Angeles Times. And she said that Farook attended the department's holiday party last year, held at the same facility.

"He was very quiet," Reisinger said of Farook. "I would say hi and bye, but we never engaged him in conversation. He didn't say much at all." Law enforcement officials have not attempted to provide a motive for Wednesday's attack, which killed 14 people and wounded 17 others, but the FBI listed terrorism and a fight at the holiday party as possibilities.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.