San Bernardino Shooters Tried to Destroy Phones, Hard Drives, Sources Say
Investigators will try to recover information from the devices.
— -- Law enforcement sources tell ABC News the suspected shooters in Wednesday’s deadly rampage in San Bernardino apparently attempted to destroy their digital media.
Sources say mobile phones, hard drives, virtually anything with digital memory that was associated with the alleged shooters -- Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik -- was smashed.
FBI computer forensics analysts in Orange Co. California and at the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia will try to reconstruct and extract any digital information they can, however, sources said it will be painstaking work.
One law enforcement source tells ABC News that while investigators have some capabilities to mine information from damaged digital media, “they are not miracle workers.”
The hope is that some of the information, such as email and texting, might be retrieved from internet providers and mobile phone companies.
Farook and Malik opened fire at the Inland Regional Center Wednesday morning, killing 14 and injuring 21 more, the deadliest shooting since Newtown.
After opening fire, the suspects fled. But officers later caught up to them and killed them during a gun battle.
Police have not yet identified a motive, but have not ruled out terrorism.