California massacre suspect was registered on online dating sites

NEW YORK/LONDON: Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the two suspects in the mass shooting that killed 14 people and wounded 17 others in Southern California on Wednesday, was registered on at least two online dating sites.

Farook, 28, had a registered profile on a site called iMilap.com, a "one stop source for Indian matrimonial and dating services," according to the website.

He was also registered on Dubaimatrimonial.com, a dating site that is the "first and only legal marriage service provider in UAE" (United Arab Emirates), according to the website description.

It was unclear when he created the profiles on the dating sites, which provided new details about Farook.

Co-workers told the Los Angeles Times that Farook, a US citizen, had travelled to Saudi Arabia and returned with his new wife, whom he had met online.

On the iMilap.com site, Farook described himself as a 22-year-old Muslim male living in Riverside, California, who is from a "religious but modern family of 4 - 2 girls, 2 boys" and worked for the county as a health, safety and environmental inspector.

He added that he enjoyed working on vintage and modern cars, and read religious books while enjoying eating out sometimes.

Farook and Tashfeen Malik, 27, who had a 6-month-old daughter together, were killed in a shootout with police after Wednesday´s mass shooting in the city of San Bernardino at a social services agency where Farook worked, authorities said.

Farook and Malik were married for two years and the couple left their baby with Farook´s mother early on Wednesday, telling her they were going to a doctor´s appointment for Malik, according to the head of the Los Angeles area chapter of the Muslim advocacy group Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

The CAIR official said Farook was born in Illinois and was the son of immigrant parents from Pakistan.

On Dubaimatrimonial.com, he described himself as being from Karachi, Pakistan, but was born in Chicago and was residing in Los Angles as an American citizen.

His religion was shown as Islam.

Farook graduated from California State University, San Bernardino with a degree in environmental health in 2009,according to the university´s commencement document.