General Question

ibstubro's avatar

How is the home of San Bernardino of suspected terroists Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik the landlord's to display for reporters?

Asked by ibstubro (18804points) December 4th, 2015

Including personal information such as driver’s licenses and Social Security Cards.

If the rent is current, shouldn’t the personal effects been the responsibility of the next of kin? They left puzzled family and a 6 month old baby.

How did the FBI green-light the landlord taking possession of the property?

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21 Answers

chyna's avatar

And to add to your question, why did the FBI not take the shredded papers?

jca's avatar

FBI probably got search warrant.

Buttonstc's avatar

It seems as if this landlord wasn’t thinking when the press began to request access. After the whole thing got out of control and degenerated into chaos, he shut it down.

I’m going to assume that, since he owned the rental property and it was clear that they weren’t returning (since they were both killed in the shootout and that fact was well publicized) he didn’t see much reason not to allow the press access.

I don’t know what value there would be in the personal info. from drivers licenses etc. since they’re both obviously deceased.

I think he just didn’t think it all out that well. I doubt there was any shady intent on his part.

And, after the press stampede got so out of hand, I’m sure he thoroughly regrets the entire headache it caused :)

ARE_you_kidding_me's avatar

Pretty screwed up, the press is unscrupulous. They knew better but they did it anyway.

msh's avatar

You have a mass killing. Seemingly just a disgruntled worker and his wife. New parents, to boot. Wait- they were Muslims. Did he have a grudge against a co-worker? He had left the party at one point. Came back. From four men actively shooting and toting rapid-firing guns- complete with bullets that could pierce through layers of metal, body armor, more metal and still keep going. They reloaded in order to keep firing. Oh, they also left explosive devices here and there. Some thought more assassins were thought to be holed up. Three on the loose….then two dead in a SUV. A woman! Wait- new parents- was there explosive/poisonous elements around the SUV? Ect. Ect. Ect.
They very cautiously aproached the SUV. Awaiting clearance for hours. Same with the building- from the point of thorough analysis of each individual exiting the building as a possible accomplice or even possible killer. The murdered were not moved for almost eighteen hours. The fire sprinklers were set off during the shooting. There were areas of standing water soaking bodies. No one entered the building. Almost nine hours before a living human saw the horrors in person. They say it will take a great deal of time to go through the crime scene. “It could be weeks”, was the official estimation given. Etc. Etc. Etc.
The married couple’s child-safe at the fraternal grandmother’s house. Dropped off quickly for a false doctor’s appointment. A lie; a parent’s fib. Remote control car, controller wired remote to set off explosives, failed to ignite. Three inside the SUV- all men. Christmas tree lights for bombs? Pipe bombs thrown out of SUV windows as the pair attempt to??? No! A Woman in back of vehicle to distribute bombs more effectively! Dead. He’s bleeding out in the street, handcuffed. She is never seen and her body was not brought out of the SUV. Was that because it might have angered some to have her bare-faced- an important aspect of the devout? More bombs inside? ...Why it looks like Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow’s shot up Ford at the end of their run. Before all people in the entire building, including residents, are accounted for an bussed away, some fingerprints taken from INside the building (?) are put into Codus and matched to the man who would be dead in the street. Etc. Etc. Etc.
Next, the FBI, without, repeat, without the LAPD, nor any other law enforcement agencies present, gleans the couple’s apartment for items that were – as some reported; expected to be there. Some items carelessly broken by agents, ceilingboard rectangle out of the closet exposed – while stacked boxes and suitcases remain neatly stacked, alongside the neatly hung clothes on hangers. Bed linens stripped and arm-rolled up into piles, bottom matress bedsheets still firmly anchored to the unmoved mattress. Papers dumped to the floor in a larger pile. Family photos, bills, banking statements… et.al. in the pile- Some smiling faced extended family and baby pictures on the refrigerator. Baby items in crib/changing table, still looking untouched from the little girl’s parent’s quick call to action, and strangely untouched through an FBI search. Etc., Etc., Etc.
Yet after only a few hours, at best, with no courtesy call to the LAPD, without any fingerprints lifted anywhere, nor photographs inside the apartment or around the outside building, being
taken, they leave! Absolutely no crime scene tape being erected nor plotted by grid which should have continued inside. And the windows being boarded up by the landlord- (no one in law enforcement present, nor any photographing outward- as per expected crime scene forensic rules) his being allowed to do so, freely, by the FBI.
After the FBI takes their quick look-see, snatch and run of possibly vital information, all Without Calling Nor Alerting the LAPD, California State Officials, et. al.,
they tell the landlord is that it’s His property now, with all it’s contents. Also purportedly told that he might as well make some money off the press for first entry dibs?!?!?!?

This was no error. Nor mix-up. This wasn’t forgetfullness.
These actions by the Feds were meant to do only one thing.
Destroy a crimescene. Hinder any useful elements from being brought forth.
Destroy evidence. Make sure anyone else- national, state or local will have a compromised situation. Nothing towards finding any other fingerprints. Nothing about the Koran tossed on the mattress, nor what the contents of the neatly kept, yet unchecked closet materials. The trash containers dumped outside on the ground- information, etc. exposed -and thus, now compromised and rendered useless. Newspeople taking papers, documents, family photos of people elsewhere in the world-with faces that might supply a minute sliver of information on When and Where the next attack might possibly occur? The neat closet and boxes aren’t untouched now. Nothing is useable. Nor were all items accounted for, once everyone in the press got done pawing through it all, either.
Who knows? Perhaps our tax dollars went towards making damn sure that the apartment owner opened the whole place up for all see and touch….
With as much caution and time, etc. that was being taken, only to have careless results for such an important place destroyed.
Who the hell are these people?
Men In Black, Pt. 4?
I’m not sure the individuals who carried out this terrible attack are the only ones we should be watching out for. Are you?

msh's avatar

A foreign news report has just suggested that Tashfeem Mallik was the driving force of the weaponry stockpiling and collection of materials. She was the person who openly re-pledged herself to ISIS on an Isis social website. It was suggested that she was connected to larger and more lofty goals than was her husband. He was characterized as being verbally argumentative concerning his religion, and often perceived those with alternative views to be enemies.
What if they were making and stockpiling weaponry for another deadly goal? Larger scale?
What if, on this day, her husband was angry because of a holiday celebration that he did not believe in?
What if the original intention for all of these weapons were for another attack(s) and because of his explosive argument at this gathering, caused him to return home in order to declare their changed goal was to center upon a situation that effected him more closely and immediately?
Thus the over abundance of weaponry and explosives ready to use and have leftover arms to go elsewhere and continue their originally perceived mission.
Time was lost by their clever calculation by placing the explosive device near the entrance that would be the entry point for first responders.
What was their original goal or target before her husband lost his temper and passed the point of no return? Where were they headed next? Was that what was taken out of the apt by the Feds?
Is that what the suits wanted to keep tracking without regard for the answers so needed by those effected by this horror, and their families here and now?
Are these victims just collateral and almost ruined a larger threat?
Wow.
Sacrificing their needs for a greater good= larger attack?

€€€€ Sorry for the lengths. My brain needs a place to bounce the OMG horrors and the possible answers as to why…. Anyone out there?

DrasticDreamer's avatar

I can’t answer your question. But I truly can’t find the words for how that made me feel when it happened. I feel that, at 30, after seeing so many horrible things in general throughout my life, that not much of anything could shock me anymore. But that did. Not just the fact that the landlord opened the apartment to the public, but that the media and so many other people even thought it was acceptable.

It made me want to throw up and a part of my heart shriveled and died when I read about the frenzy. Like they were celebrities, like it was a movie. Like it was entertainment. I’m cynical and I’ve seen the change in people, communication, technology, as I’ve grown. I have been expecting it. But somehow, that still wasn’t enough to shield me from the horror of what took place. And it’s only going to continue getting worse from here.

A car accident, a burning building, a standoff, a murder, a rape. All will be recorded, for entertainment value – for the first tweet or blog post – before anyone even thinks to call the police. And sadly, this isn’t just the way a single country is headed. It’s the entire damn world and I am horrified.

I know this “answer” isn’t technically relevant, but this has been eating at me in ways that I didn’t expect. So, I apologize, but I feel like I needed to get it out. If it’s moderated, I understand.

ibstubro's avatar

I’m not a weepy person, @DrasticDreamer, by any stretch of the imagination.
Yet, your response literally made my eyes water. The emotion is so raw and empathetic.

Hug someone.

filmfann's avatar

Killing 14 people, and shooting 21 more is the wrong way to make me to care about someone’s rights.

stanleybmanly's avatar

It’s tough to fault the landlord who in the midst of dealing with the FBI is simultaneously bum-rushed by the media. Under such circumstances, which of us would have the presence of mind to acquire a sizable fortune in auctioning off peeks?

BosM's avatar

What a circus, poor judgment overall – by the landlord and the press. People were shot down in cold blood by terrorists and the press is parading through the home of these murders and putting it on television. The press shouldn’t be doing anything to give these radicals more notoriety, I could care less about them and how they lived, what I care about is how we remove terrorists from US soil, or bury them in it, either option is fine with me. Enough already

si3tech's avatar

They should be prosecuted for their crime scene destruction! Along with the landlord! Can’t tell me they did not know not to foul the scene. What they left is virtually useless now.

chyna's avatar

@si3tech It was my understanding that the police and FBI had released the apartment back to the landlord. They were done with their search.

ibstubro's avatar

Yes, @si3tech, I heard the same thing as @chyna.

The FBI called the landlord the night before and released the house to him to do as he saw fit.

si3tech's avatar

That is almost unbelievable! I guess they took their direction from the top.

ibstubro's avatar

It is pretty unbelievable, @si3tech. How can they be so certain, so soon? I would have thought the FBI would have deconstructed the house, looking for clues.

si3tech's avatar

I agree @ibstubro , too quick, somethings not right with this. I hope this situation is scrutinized. And not by the FBI.

msh's avatar

This couple were being watched for a different terror attack at a later time. A portion of a larger effort not yet carried out. This was not the work nor intent of a larger effort. These two took a minor office dispute and because of Farook being uncontrollably explosive, they ruined their portion that was needed, as planned, elsewhere. Thus the over abundance of their arsenal of bombs and weaponry.
The Feds did not want anything of the larger operation being tracked nor uncovered. It would ruin any intelligence they believed useful for a larger terror attack.
They destroyed all evidence in the apartment, thus ending any measures for those to use in searching for the why’s and who’s and other details the bereaved want to know about the people who killed their loved ones.
It was not a joint effort. The FBI opened up the black hole of clean evidence in order to ruin anything of any value for other agencies.
All for the greater good?
Your choice.

cazzie's avatar

They were dead. Who was going to press charges? Do you think any next of kin dare to front up to collect belongings and welcome scrutiny? Why does it surprise everyone that the landlord opened up the place? He probably got a few bucks for his trouble. I imagine, getting killed like that would break a lease agreement.

That poor baby left behind.

ibstubro's avatar

You forget you’re talking about America, @cazzie.

There’s sure to be an ambulance chaser that will sue pro-bono on the baby’s behalf.

jca's avatar

They said on the news that the FBI just raided the neighbor’s house, because that’s where the shooter got the guns from.

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