Obama Emphasizes Uncertainty of Motives Behind California Shooting Incident

Barack Obama, the President of the United States, in response to the shooting incident in California, emphasized the uncertainty of the possible motives behind this event and urged citizens to wait for the facts before making any judgments. International news agencies reported on Thursday, December 3, the President's statements regarding the shooting incident in California, in which it was highlighted that the nature of whether this incident is 'terroristic' or 'work-related' is still unclear and investigators have not reached conclusions regarding the reasons behind it. Two armed assailants, identified as Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, attacked a disability center in California on Wednesday, killing at least 14 people and injuring 17 others, and according to reports, both were killed in a confrontation with police. Earlier, a local police official had told reporters that there was still no information regarding the cause or causes of the incident; 'We still do not know if this is a terrorist attack in the conventional sense.' According to a Reuters report, Jerry Berguan, the police chief of San Bernardino, added that 'clearly, we are facing at least a form of domestic terrorism.' Now, both Reuters and the Associated Press have reported that the President of the United States, after a meeting on Thursday with his national security advisors, stated that 'this incident may be a terrorist event, or it may have work-related motives, we still do not know.' Mr. Obama emphasized that he is confident that the FBI and law enforcement will uncover the reasons behind this incident, while also urging citizens to wait for the facts before making any judgments about this event. Both assailants in this bloody incident were Muslims, but according to reports from Agence France-Presse, the 'horrific attack' on Wednesday was 'explicitly' condemned by the Muslim community in California. Nevertheless, the President of the United States acknowledged that the threat has not been completely resolved and called for the nation to make it harder for violence to continue. Meanwhile, CNN reported on President Obama's statements from a television interview on Thursday, in which he expressed confidence that America is safe from incidents like the bloody Paris attacks, and that law enforcement is well-equipped to protect the people during the holiday season. In an interview with CBS that aired on Thursday, Mr. Obama described the Islamic State as a dangerous organization like Al-Qaeda but emphasized that 'ISIS is not an active threat to us... because we have strengthened our defensive mechanisms.' This television interview, recorded on Wednesday, included a brief segment that aired before the details of the California incident and the identification of the two suspects were known, in which the President reiterated his call for changes to gun laws.