The bank account of San Bernardino attacker Syed Rizwan Farook received a $28,500 deposit from WebBank.com about two weeks before he and his wife Tashfeen Malik opened fire on a holiday party, an individual close to the investigation said.
Officials, who are investigating the shooting as an act of terrorism, believe that the deposit is further evidence that the attack was premeditated.
Fox News reported:
The deposit came via Utah-based WebBank.com [on or around Nov. 18], which describes itself as "a leading provider of national consumer and commercial private-label and bank card financing programs" on a nationwide basis. On or about Nov.20, Fox News is told Farook converted $10,000 to cash, and withdrew the money at a Union Bank branch in San Bernardino. Afterwards, in the days before the shooting, there were at least three transfers of $5,000 that appear to be to Farook’s mother. The loan and large cash withdrawal were described to Fox News by the source as "significant evidence of pre-meditation," and further undercut the premise that an argument at the Christmas party on Dec. 2 led to the shooting.
Federal investigators are currently probing whether the deposit was made as a result of a loan taken out by Farook. The sum was more than double what Farook earned in a year--$53,000--as a health inspector for San Bernardino County.
Investigators are also trying to determine if the $10,000 Farook withdrew from the bank account was used to pay back Enrique Marquez, who purchased the rifles Farook and Malik used to kill 14 people and wound 21 others last Wednesday.
Representatives for WebBank.com refused to answer questions about the deposit. A spokesman for Union Bank said that the bank is working with the FBI and "cooperating to the full extent of the law with the agencies conducting investigations into this tragedy."
The FBI has been investigating the shooting as an act of terrorism since finding evidence Farook had contact with Islamic extremists and that Malik had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State on social media.
Yesterday, the FBI said that both attackers had been radicalized "for some time." Both Farook and Malik died in a firefight with police after fleeing the site of the shooting.