Terror in San Bernardino: The Inland Regional Center Massacre
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Ideally, a police officer will go their entire career without ever responding to an active shooter. Most do. Others aren't as lucky. And when that day comes, how they respond determines their worth as a public servant, a defender of justice, and a peacekeeper in an unpeaceful world. Lieutenant Mike Madden of the San Bernardino Police Department was one of the good ones. It was December 2nd, 2015.

Lieutenant Madden had been on the force for 25 years. He had recently transitioned to more administrative work after two decades in the field. It wasn't for lack of skill as an officer. Moving behind the desk is like a rite of passage pre-retirement. He still wore his uniform and carried his gun even though he didn't have to. Lieutenant Madden was on his lunch break. He was driving an unmarked car and had just pulled into a target parking lot to take a personal call.

That's when dispatch came over his radio. Suspect is still inside the business. 1365 South Waterman. It's in building number 3. Possible active shooter. The address on South Waterman was for the Inland Regional Center, a state-run facility for people with developmental disabilities. Lieutenant Madden knew the area well. Shots fired at the Inland Center wasn't an uncommon call.

people would use an isolated area near the building for illegal target practice. Unfortunately, two people had taken their practice inside the building, using their co-workers as target dummies. Lieutenant Madden was less than a mile away when he stepped on the gas. He called for backup, expecting other officers to be on the scene. When he got there, Mike learned he was all alone.

He took position behind his car as a group of people ran from the building. They told him that two shooters, dressed in black, were still inside. Madden's backup arrived moments later. Without hesitation, he and four other officers formed an entry team to storm the building. They faced two faceless shooters dressed in tactical gear and armed with assault-grade weapons. Lieutenant Madden went in with nothing but his service pistol. He didn't have time to grab a bulletproof vest.

They entered through the east side of the building. Within seconds, they saw two wounded victims pleading for help. And they weren't the only ones. Dozens of people were yelling and screaming. The fresh smell of gunpowder was still in the air. Flying bullets had triggered the sprinklers and fire alarm. It was loud, wet, and chaotic. As far as Mike's team was concerned, there was still an active shooter in the building. Possibly two, maybe even three.

Per their active shooter training, the team had one objective: find and eliminate the shooter. That means they couldn't stop and help wounded victims. They looked into the room where the shooting took place. Dozens were shot. Many were dead. But it was hard to tell who. And although they pleaded for help, Mike's team had to keep moving. It was the hardest decision any of them had ever made. Someone who was clinging to life right now would likely die by the time they got back.

They pressed on, looking for the shooters, hoping backup wasn't far behind. Unfortunately, the shooters had already fled the building. They escaped in a black SUV that one of them had rented a few days prior. In fact, CCTV cameras caught them casually driving away from the buildings as more police officers rushed to the scene. Paramedics did what they could to help the wounded. Twelve victims died instantly.

Two more died in makeshift medical centers erected outside the building. Through the chaos, police had to ask as many questions as possible. Did anybody see the shooters? Does anybody know where they went? Does anybody know who they are? That's when one man spoke up. He gave police a name that would kickstart a harrowing search across San Bernardino: Said Rizwan Farouk. He'd been sitting with Said moments before, enjoying a company holiday party inside the regional center.

Farouk posed for pictures with his coworkers. He participated in a training exercise and was getting ready for the Christmas party luncheon. Then, he got quiet and left abruptly, telling his coworkers, I'll be right back. He returned in black tactical gear, wielding a .223 caliber assault rifle. The same rifle Adam Lanza used to kill 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School. But Farouk wasn't alone.

Standing beside him, spraying bullets indiscriminately into the Christmas party, was a petite figure dressed in black. Her name was Tashfeen Malik, one of only six female mass shooters in American history. To many, Farouk and Malik were devout Muslims living the American dream. They were married and lived in a modest townhouse in San Bernardino County. They also had a six-month-old daughter, who was with Farouk's mother during the attack.

Behind closed doors, Farouk and Malik were consumed by Islamic extremism. They stockpiled weapons and built pipe bombs in accordance with Al-Qaeda standards. And, in a shocking twist, the FBI believes it was Malik who radicalized her husband. It's a sentiment his family stands behind. They knew the man Farouk used to be. They had no idea he'd wandered down such a dark path.

They carried out the worst terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11. With 14 people dead and 22 others wounded, everybody wanted to know why and how. Part 1: A Man of Faith Said Rizwan Farooq was born and raised in America. His parents were from Pakistan, but he and his siblings were all born as US citizens. They began in Chicago and eventually moved west to Riverside, California.

At school, Farouk was far ahead of his classmates. He graduated from high school a year early and attended Cal State in San Bernardino, where he received a bachelor's degree in environmental health. Farouk may have seemed like a normal kid at school, but his home life was anything but. His father, also named Saeed Farouk, was an alcoholic. He was extremely violent and would often lash out at his wife and children.

According to divorce papers, Farouk Sr. would call his wife names, scream at the kids, and hurl appliances around like baseballs. At his worst, he'd get so combative that the younger Farouk and his siblings would have to stand between him and their mother. The family left in 2006, once Farouk Sr. began mixing alcohol with his medication. One of Farouk's childhood friends said the future terrorist was soft-spoken and intelligent.

He wore western clothes, while his parents always dressed in traditional Muslim garb. But as Farouk got older, he got more in touch with his faith and began wearing traditional clothing. Friends and neighbors remember him as being quiet but approachable. He enjoyed his solitude while working on cars in the driveway. He didn't socialize and was rarely seen with women. In his twenties, Farouk leaned on two online dating services to find love.

One was aimed at young Indian singles, the other matched with people in the UAE. Farooq described himself as a devout Muslim who didn't smoke or drink. He enjoyed working on cars and reading religious texts. He liked to travel and go out to eat, but he was mostly looking to kick back and discuss Islam in the backyard. Farooq wanted a woman who was equally invested in her faith. He may have gotten more than he bargained for when he met Tashfin Malik.

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Part 2: Coming to America. Tashfeen Malik was born in Pakistan, but spent most of her short life in Saudi Arabia. According to the LA Times, she was raised in a well-off family.

Her parents described her as a modern girl who became ultra-conservative after attending college. Malik attended Bahauden Zakaria University in Malton, Pakistan, where she got a degree in pharmacology. But Malik was more interested in religion than medicine. She fell into Al-Huda, a chain of religious schools focused on teaching the more conservative ideals of traditional Islam.

What separates Al-Huda from other Islamic schools is their strategic targeting of upper middle class Pakistani women. According to Pakistani officials, the San Bernardino attack was the first and only time Al-Huda was linked to any kind of terrorist plot. That doesn't change the fact that Al-Huda seminaries promote anti-Western ideals and lean heavily on hardline practices.

Those very practices could cause someone like Malik to lash out at a non-believer. According to one Pakistani scholar, "What happens is, these Al-Huda classes are teaching these urban, educated, upper middle class women a very conservative interpretation of Islam that makes them very judgmental about others around them. That it's their job to go out and reform people and bring them toward the path of true Islam."

A statement from the al-Huda she attended claims Malik left before completing her courses, saying: "It seems that she was unable to understand the beautiful message of the Qur'an." The phrase al-Huda translates to "guidance". The organization found its stride in the late 2000s and into the 2010s. Typically, religious organizations in Pakistan target low-income, under-educated men.

Al-Huda was different. They targeted the well-educated wives of military officers and businessmen. The organization itself is run entirely by women. Malik studied at Al-Huda between 2013 and 2014. She abruptly left when she met Farouk online and decided to get married. Farouk flew to Saudi Arabia in early 2014 to marry Malik. They had an engagement party in Mecca and then flew back to California.

Malik entered the United States on a 90-day K1 visa, also known as the fiancé visa. On September 30, 2014, Malik applied for a permanent green card. That meant she needed to pass a criminal and national security background check. As far as the FBI and DHS were concerned, Malik was clean. She was granted a conditional green card in July of 2015.

Had they looked a little harder, they would have learned that the Pakistani address Malik listed on her fiancé visa didn't exist. In fact, many aspects regarding Malik's entry into the US came under scrutiny after the attack. The FBI discovered private messages between her and Farouk, where they openly discussed martyrdom and jihad.

She was open about her extreme views on social media. But according to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency doesn't regularly use social media references when screening people. At the time, they relied more heavily on global police databases. For example, if Malik had committed a crime in Pakistan, it would have popped up. Since talking about jihad on Facebook isn't a crime, nobody had a clue.

That said, Malik made many of these remarks in private messages, even if they were all public. Combing through millions of social media posts every time someone wanted to enter the US would be impossible. At least, that's how FBI Director James Comey felt at the time. Thus sparks the debate between safety and privacy. Should the FBI be able to read your private messages before you enter the country? Some say yes, others say no.

From the outside, Farouk and Malik were living the American dream. They had a six-month-old daughter at the time of the attack and lived in a modest home in San Bernardino County. Farouk worked as a food inspector for the Department of Public Health. His co-workers described him as quiet but friendly. They knew he was a devout Muslim, but he never talked openly about his religion.

Instead, he saved worship for the Islamic center of Riverside, where he'd show up twice a day for prayer. Sometimes, he'd get there as early as 4:30 in the morning. Farouk was the most devout member of his mosque. Director Mustafa Kukco told reporters that Farouk always kept a bit of a distance between him and other people. He never had any dispute with anyone.

That is, until December 2nd, 2015, when he shot and killed 14 people during a Christmas party. Part 3: Consumed by Poison. Saeed Farooq and his bride, Tashfeen Malik, flew under the radar before their attack. Therefore, the FBI can only piece together when the couple may have started planning. According to Director Comey, they likely spent all of 2015 gearing up for an attack.

there's a chance that the Christmas party was pure spontaneity. Farouk had become a regular at a gun range in Riverside County. One employee described him as a normal guy as he brought his own assault caliber weapons for target practice. Two of those guns were .223 caliber semi-auto rifles. Both were purchased by Farouk's lifelong friend, Enrique Marquez Jr. Farouk and Enrique were next door neighbors while growing up in Riverside.

As they grew older, they began discussing radical Islam, stockpiling weapons, and building explosives. In fact, explosives found at the scene and in Farouk and Malik's home were built based on blueprints in Inspire magazine. Assuming you're not a frequent reader, Inspire is an English-language magazine published by Al-Qaeda. It openly calls for attacks on the United States and even features specific bomb-making instructions.

Farouk and Enrique were frequent readers. Even though California has some of the strictest gun laws in the US, Farouk and Malik were able to skirt around them. For example, California's assault weapons ban outlawed high-powered rifles and high-capacity magazines. Yet, both were found at the Inland Center after the shooting.

They modified the guns to fire in full auto and got their hands on 30-round magazines. California law restricts magazine capacity to 10 rounds. It also prohibits quick magazine release mechanisms. Weapons must come with a block that forces the shooter to use a special tool to release it. Farouk and Malik removed that block, allowing them to reload like a video game. They even taped their magazines together to ensure the bullets never stopped flying.

Two weeks before the attack, Saeed took out a $28,000 loan from an online peer-to-peer lending service called Prosper. He withdrew $10,000 in cash and then made at least three $5,000 transfers to his mother. Some believed the 10K was to pay for the weapons used during the attack. As for the transfers to his mother, Farouk likely knew this was the end and wanted to leave her with something.

Part 4: This is not a drill. On December 2nd, 2015, roughly 80 Environmental Health Department staff members gathered for a day of training at the Inland Regional Center. Farouk was among them. The Regional Center was the go-to spot for training and office parties. It had a large conference room and was close to the Health Department's main campus.

Ironically, Farouk and his co-workers had participated in active shooter training in the same room a year prior. The conference room had 11 tables that could seat 8 people each. It was tight, but they didn't mind. Farouk's team was close and very friendly. His co-workers even threw him a baby shower when his daughter was born. They lined the room with Christmas decorations and erected an 8-foot tree across from the projector screen.

The training session kicked off at 8 a.m., with small team-building events planned for the rest of the day. Around 10:30, Farouk checked his phone and then excused himself from the meeting. He left his bag on the table and told his colleagues that he'd be right back. Around 11 a.m., something went wrong with the projector. The group took an unplanned break. Some went to the bathroom, others walked around the building, but most stayed in the room and played on their phones.

Then, without warning, several loud cracks and popping sounds were heard outside. It was like someone had lit fireworks on the building's lawn. Those who recognized the sounds were overcome with fear. Those weren't fireworks. They were gunshots. The conference room door swung open. A black-clad gunman stood with a mask covering his face. He stepped inside and began spraying bullets all over the room. San Bernardino police believe Farouk opened fire first.

Malik joined him shortly after. According to reports, Farouk and Malik focused most of their fire at the table Farouk had been sitting at, right next to the Christmas tree. Some people ducked for cover, while others tried escaping through the door opposite Farouk and Malik. A handful of people just stood there in disbelief. They thought it was another active shooter drill. Together, Farouk and Malik fired over 100 rounds into the room.

They blew out all the windows and struck multiple victims, killing some instantly. Amid the chaos, one of their bullets struck the overhead sprinkler system. Water poured onto the bloodbath and triggered alarms across the building. Most people made it out of the room. Those who remained inside had to remain perfectly still. According to police, the shooters walked through the carnage, firing at anything that moved or made a sound. Those who did escape were now looking for places to hide.

Several made it out of the building, while others barricaded themselves in locked rooms. They hid in closets, cabinets, and bathrooms. Anything to put some kind of shield between them and the shooters. Those who ran outside stumbled upon a horrible sight. During the unplanned break, two of their co-workers had gone for a walk. They were the first people killed during the attack. The fireworks that everyone heard outside were the gunshots that killed them.

The attack was over in three minutes. After firing over 100 rounds, Farouk and Malik fled the building and escaped in a black SUV. A few minutes later, Lieutenant Mike Madden arrived on the scene. Madden and his fellow officers rounded the southeast corner of the building. There, they found three dead bodies.

A woman was on the ground outside the double glass doors. A man was seated on a bench, clutching his cell phone, riddled with bullet holes. Another man was slumped over a picnic table. He must have been in the middle of his lunch when Farouk and Malik arrived. It was dark inside the building. The sound of spraying water had combined with the smell of fresh gunfire. Painful wails and cries for help echoed through the halls. The conference room looked like a bomb had gone off.

Tables were flipped, and bodies were strewn across the floor. Water from the sprinklers had mixed with the blood. It caused it to puddle and leak under both sets of double doors. Victims grabbed at their legs and begged for help, but Madden and his team had a job to do. As one officer put it, "It was the worst thing imaginable. Some people were quiet, hiding. Others were screaming or dying, grabbing at your legs because they wanted us to get them out.

But our job at the moment was to keep going. Stepping over them was the hardest part. Ever since Columbine, officers had been trained to form up and enter buildings tactically when there's an active shooter. Their main objective is to locate the shooter and eliminate them as quickly as possible. The Critical Incident Response Manual for Supervisors and Managers lays out active shooter situations in three crucial steps: Locate, Isolate, Evacuate.

Officers must follow these steps in this exact order. According to the manual, if we begin to evacuate people who may be wounded or in the line of fire before we have located the suspect and isolated him, we allow ourselves to become targets and the suspect to move about possibly harming more people. Officers from several agencies soon arrived. The regional center's location in the middle of the city was critical to San Bernardino's quick response.

SWAT teams, probation officers, and members of the SBPD were all within three miles of the incident. While Lieutenant Madden's team continued searching for the shooters, other officers erected makeshift medical centers on the front lawn. While they were able to help many wounded victims, two died from their injuries inside the tents. Now came the difficult job of questioning the victims for any information. Luckily, one man came forward with a name.

He told a rookie officer that one of his coworkers had gotten up and left before the shooting began. There was something about the shooter's build and body language that he found familiar. His name was Saeed Farooq. The hunt was on. Part 5: Utah X523RY As they say, not all heroes wear capes. One of the many capeless heroes in this story is Stuart Bowden, a computer programmer on his way home when the shooting occurred.

To him, December 2nd, 2015 was just another day. Then, a black SUV with Utah license plates abruptly changed lanes in front of him. The move was sharp and sudden. The Utah license plate made Stewart slightly suspicious. He figured he should commit that plate to memory, just in case he needed it. X523RY. At the police station, analysts ran Farouk's name through every database they could.

But he wasn't known to police at the time. All that returned was an array of confusing addresses. That's when Stuart called 911. He'd just gotten home and flipped on the TV. There was a breaking news report about the shooting. They said the shooters had fled in a black SUV. Thanks to Stuart's photographic memory, police could run the license plate through their database. It came up as an Enterprise rental car.

The next capeless hero in this tale is Dani Ruth Svonkin, a veteran analyst with the SBPD. She had a contact at Enterprise that was willing to bend a few rules. Normally, to get information on a renter, police would have to contact Enterprise's corporate headquarters. They'd have to fill out paperwork, get information from person X and run it by person Y. It would take too much time, and time was not on their side.

Danny's contact cut through the red tape. The black SUV with Utah license plate X523RY had been rented by none other than Syed Rizwan Farooq. This new information helped Danny obtain a unique address in Redlands, California. She dispatched an undercover police unit, which arrived at the address just as Farooq was leaving.

The undercover officers treated it like a drug bust. They didn't want to spook the suspects, so they kept their distance and tailed the car. Soon, they realized Farouk was heading back toward the Inland Regional Center. They later learned that Farouk had circled the building several times in the past few hours. But why? Remember the backpack he left on the table? Inside was a homemade bomb strapped to a remote-controlled car.

Police believed the bomb was meant to cause more damage when first responders entered the building. Thankfully, it failed to detonate. There was either something wrong with the wiring or Farouk never got close enough. As Farouk neared the regional center for the final time, two marked squad cars pulled into the undercover convoy. They flipped on their lights and sirens. The chase was on.

Inside the SUV, Farouk and Malik put on tactical vests and loaded their weapons. She blew out the back window and started firing at police officers. Deputy Sean Wallen was 25 yards from the van and the target of Malik's initial gunfire. He was prepared to fight back when the SUV suddenly stopped. Farouk hit the brakes, stopping in the middle of the road. Malik climbed into the trunk and both began shooting at Deputy Wallen and other approaching officers.

Wallen hunkered behind his squad car and returned whatever fire he could. Farouk and Malik were armed with automatic assault weapons and plenty of ammo. All he had was a rifle, a shotgun, and his service pistol. That's when Farouk ran from the SUV and tried flanking Wallen. Luckily, one of the undercover officers, Officer Nick Kowahu, noticed and shouted to his friend. He moved in to protect Wallen, suffering a gunshot wound to the leg

He collapsed into a bush to inspect his wound. There was no exit hole, nor did the bullet strike a major artery. He got up and kept fighting. Kawahou, Wallen, and every other officer unloaded on Farouk with everything they had. He was struck multiple times in the legs and upper body. He fell in the street, sat up, and drew a pistol. He fired several rounds. His gun jammed. Police delivered the killing blow. One down, one to go.

Malik continued firing from the trunk of their SUV. She must have been shot multiple times, but she never took her finger off the trigger. Eventually, her wounds proved too much. She was shot 13 times in the chest and head. Officers feared that the SUV was rigged to blow. So, they sent a special bomb squad vehicle to inspect the scene and remove Malik's body. It was only then that they realized the second shooter was a woman.

They later learned that Malik and Farouk had left their infant child with Farouk's mother hours before the attack took place. 16 people were dead, including the shooters. They had injured 22 civilians and two police officers. Officer Kawahu's injury wasn't life-threatening. Thirteen hours later, while in the shower, Deputy Wallen noticed blood pouring down his leg. He must have been hit by a piece of shrapnel sometime during the gunfight.

Over 175 law enforcement officers were involved during that attack on December 2nd. 24 of them participated in the gunfight that finally ended it. They fired about 440 shots into the black SUV. Meanwhile, Farouk and Malik fired 81. Inside the car, police found nearly 2,500 rounds of .223 caliber ammunition. They also found the remote detonator for the bomb left behind at the regional center.

The suspects were deader than dead, but police had more questions than answers. Were they part of a larger terrorist organization? Were they planning future attacks? And why did they target the Inland's regional center? Part 6: Religious Exemption According to the FBI, Malik and Farouk were in the final stages of planning a much larger and deadlier operation.

Based on the amount of ammunition found in their home, they were likely targeting a government building or a college, something larger and with more people than the regional center. So why attack Farouk's office party? Many believe it was because of the Christmas decor. While combing through Malik's laptop and online accounts, Felice found emails and posts about the party. She objected to a Muslim being forced to attend anything Christmas-related.

Hours after the attack, she pledged her allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the former leader of the ISIS terrorist group. Oddly, Malik had to Google who the leader of ISIS was before she made that post. You'd think someone like Malik would know the man's name. Maybe she needed the spelling. The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security learned how easily Malik and Farouk slipped under their noses.

They discovered chat logs from 2013 showing them talking about jihad and martyrdom. But, as far as the FBI can tell, they weren't directly connected to an organized terrorist group. That didn't stop ISIS from calling them supporters and soldiers of the caliphate. After the attack, it's safe to assume Malik and Farouk were heavily influenced by groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda, but didn't have direct ties or direct orders.

Another unanswered question about the attack is the number of shooters. The police have every reason to believe that Farouk and Malik acted alone. However, multiple witnesses told reporters and officers on the scene that they saw three gunmen. Sally Abdel-Majid worked at the regional center and was there during the attack. She swears she saw three shooters in black military garb. When asked about those comments two months after the attack, she said, "I know what I saw.

Lieutenant Madden, who was first on the scene, believes in the ballistic evidence. The shooters only used two firearms, confirmed via the shell casings found at the scene. Witnesses likely saw the same shooter twice and thought there was a third. A year after the shooting, the FBI still hadn't ruled out the possibility of a third shooter. It's unclear where they stand on it today. Part 7. Crypto Wars

The phrase "crypto wars" might sound like something new, but it actually dates back to the early 90s. In 1993, the NSA proposed the Clipper chip, an encryption device that gave the government backdoor access to cell phone data. The public hated the idea, and the chip was never adopted, allegedly. Thanks to Edward Snowden, we learned that the NSA and the British government could access user data on iPhones and other smart devices.

Snowden revealed that Apple had been part of the program since 2012, though a spokesperson said that they never heard of it. With the release of the iPhone 6, Apple developed an encryption system that would lock the government out for good. To put it simply, each iPhone had its own unique code created by the user.

If the FBI wanted that code, they'd have to either crack it or get it from the user. Apple would be no use because they don't know the codes. According to Apple, guessing all the combinations of the six-digit alphanumeric passcode would take more than five and a half years. Besides, you only get a handful of tries before you're locked out for good. FBI Director Comey didn't appreciate Apple's new encryption method, especially now that he had Saeed Farooq's work phone.

The FBI couldn't crack it, so they asked Apple to create a new version of its iOS that could be installed on Farouk's phone and bypass his passcode. Apple refused. Doing so would violate their policy of never undermining their security measures. Furthermore, if such software fell into the wrong hands, it could pose massive security risks for iPhone users around the world. A ticked-off FBI said, "Oh yeah? Watch this!"

They got a court order mandating that Apple create the software to unlock Farouk's phone. Apple found itself between a rock and a hard place. Farouk was a terrorist. There could be information on that phone regarding other terrorist plots and activities. On the other hand, bending to the will of the US government was a door they weren't willing to open. Apple refused. If the FBI wanted the phone, they'd have to crack the code themselves.

On March 28th, roughly four months after the attack, the FBI announced that it had unlocked Farouk's phone without Apple's help. How remains unclear, though it's believed they hired a third-party hacking group. Ultimately, all that posturing was for nothing. Farouk's phone only contained work-related information. Part 8, In the Wake of Terror.

In the end, the only person prosecuted for the December 2nd attack was Farouk's mother, Rafia. She allegedly owned a document that Farouk had drawn up about the attack. It was a roadmap of sorts, featuring a diagram of the building and how they'd enter. They also had action items, including destroy electronics, practice at shooting range, and purchase parts for the IEDs. After the attack, Rafia shredded the document

The FBI was able to piece some of it together, but not enough to paint a clear picture. In 2021, Raffia was sentenced to six months of home confinement and three years probation for destroying the document. It's unclear what happened to the $5,000 transfers between her and Farouk before the attack. Technically, Farouk's friend, Enrique Marquez, was arrested after the attack.

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for supplying Farouk with automatic weapons. However, he bought those guns while planning an earlier attack in 2012. The two had drifted apart by December 2nd, 2015. The FBI determined that Enrique had nothing to do with the Inland Regional Center attack. As for Farouk and Malik's daughter, she remained in county custody in the months following the attack. Farouk's sister applied to adopt the child.

We're not sure where the girl is today. The attack on December 2nd claimed the lives of 14 innocent people. It forever changed the lives of countless others. From those who lost family members to those who were wounded. People like Lieutenant Madden will never forget being alone on the scene of a terrorist attack. He retired two years later after 27 years of service. Those who went in first will never forget stepping over bodies and having to ignore people pleading for help.

They'll never forget the smell of gunfire. They'll never forget the moans of the injured and dying. And they'll never forget the pitter-patter of water from the sprinkler system. Stuart Bowden will never forget the license plate number X523RY. Danny Ruth Svonkin will never forget the moment she sent undercover officers to the home of a suspected terrorist. Deputy Wallen will never forget ducking behind his car to avoid a barrage of gunfire.

Officer Quahu will never forget the bullet he took to save Wallin's life. As of today, that bullet is still lodged in his upper thigh. And finally, the community of San Bernardino will never forget the deadly terrorist plot that took place in their backyard. It was the worst act of terror on US soil since 9/11, but was quickly overshadowed by the Orlando nightclub shooting in 2016. We'd like to imagine a world where these things never happen,

Sadly, it's hard to believe such a world could ever exist.