there is plenty more news throughout the date here on al jazeera and you can always visit our website as well to get some of those updates. that is aljazeera.com. thank you very much for your time. do keep it here on "america tonight" why - the troubling and unanswered question. what led a californian man to attack his own community. >> unbelievable what our society has come to. >> a community in crisis, san bernardino california, and what is known now. thanks for joining us, i'm joie chen. we have just begun to know the face of evil that struck

in san bernardino. investigators are trying to work out why a young man and his wife instruct out in a work place that helped the vulnerable and what links there are to others that attack our communities. with little to go on the best information comes from the victims and others that saw what happened. adam may is in san bernardino california. >> how many times was he shot? >> five times. >> where. >> one in the shoulder, back, two in the leg, thigh and the other thigh. >> reporter: "america tonight" spoke to carlos ortes outside the medical center where his son kevin is recovering from the ambush. >> he ducked under the table to hide himself. he said they came back, shot some more and showed us when he was shot in the legs. >> reporter: the two attackers arrived at the scene, dressed in

black tactical gear. they unloaded 70 round of ammo, injuring 17 and killing 14 others. law enforcement officials are searching for a motive. >> we are trying to determine the motive. we do not yet know the motive. we cannot rule anything out at this point. >> reporter: police identified the shooters as 28-year-old syed farook and his wife 27-year-old tashfeen malik. syed farook was born in the states and worked for five years as an environmental inspector department. he his his wife online, met in saudi arabia, and travelled back to the u.s. in 2014. the morning of the shooting they dropped off their 6-month-old child with a family member before heading to the department's holiday party.

a search of the couple's home in redlands turned up a stockpile of weapons. thousands of rounds of ammunition, a dozen pipe bombs, computer and phone equipment sent to washington d.c. for analysis. kevin's mother says the whole thing is shocking. >> unbelievable. unbelievable. >> what did kevin have to say about the shooter. individual? >> he has no idea. he has no idea it was a co-worker. he thinks it's a random shooting. >> syed farook grew up in a turbulent household. according to court records his father was abusive to his mother and according to her suicidal. it's too early to pinpoint the reason for the attack, but urged action on gun legislation.

>> we'll have to search ourselves as a society to take the basic steps that would make it harder, not impossible, but harder, for individuals to get access to weapons. >> now, the california families joining of ever lengthening line violence. >> i appreciate guys. >> "america tonight"s adam may joins us now. >> adam, when you were in your report, you made reference to the possibility why i that this is a couple that might have met online. other than that, their digital footprint, the social media conversations seemed to be low, muted almost. >> yes, it really indicates it left a low approval on social media. there's no indication that they were active - either on facebook or twitter or anything else like that, that you would expect from most people in california, in

the upper 20s. the only thing that surfaced so far was a baby registry at target where a few months ago they registered for baby its, like all new parents do - formula and car seats. the employees at the health department threw a baby shower for the couple the investigation, though, now - they are going forward to try to gather any information they can. if there's no social media footprint. there must be other ways to track the last movements of ed. >> yes. that will be really a pivotal point in the investigation, is they are trying to figure out what was the motivation. on one hand there was the thoughts of the work place shooting, and the other hand ties to international terrorism. that's where the information that is on the computers, phones, zip drives sent to washington d.c. for analysis,

that will be critical to find out who the couple was in communication with, especially in the days leading up to the attack. >> "america tonight"s adam may reporting to us from san bernardino. what his report underscores is how much is not known about the attack and what led to it. sheila macvicar has been looking into the first few clues. let's talk about why the social media footprint, as adam suggested - we assume that from young people these days. >> we have seen it over and over again. particularly when there has been acts of terrorism or attacks that have been associated with international terrorism, it's been found that people have a trail. they can be found in chatrooms, they can be found on sites where there's radicalization that takes place, known radicals, and conversations. you see it not just in the case of terrorism related to islamic extremism, but in acts committed

by white supremacists. where people have a history of thoughts and views in chatrooms. >> that is one of the things puzzling about the couple. why is there not more of a visible older presence. an answer may be they may have gone to the lengths of destroying some computers, phones. that would give investigators pause, but not stop them. there are ways of retrieving that data. >> even if you think you have deleted it, it may not be completely gone. given your experience, you came back from france, the second round of attacks, and were there after the first ones. >> if an organization is behind an event like this, if it believes it inspires an event. doesn't it claim a link. >> this is one of the things that is puzzling and troubling.

we have heard from the president, the attorney-general to f.b.i. they are not ready to put a label on this saying that it is mental health related. to say it is work place related. rage related, or some twisted ideology, that it's related to terrorist. that is because this has got a kind of shape that is not the norm. first off we have a married couple, a married couple with a baby, a 6-month old baby, that is unusual. survivors of the attack in the conference room say neither shooter said anything. >> didn't make an announcement of why i'm doing this. >> didn't make an announce: this is who we are, we are doing this? the name of whatever. >> many mysteries. sheila macvicar. >> next, challenging a community of faith. why so many muslims in america fear they are being targeted in the wake of another attack.

hot on "america tonight"s website now, a cultural cleansing. i.s.i.l.'s devastating attacks on life today, and on the history of civilisation. at aljazeera.com/america-tonight.

a community braced for more threats. of course san bernardino is reeling from the shock of the attack there. there are other communities in the united states that now face the real fear of undeserved retaliation. we are joined from the marylands council of american islamic relations. appreciate you being here, you have known of real dread in the why? >> thank you for having me. the fact of the matter is when

an incident like this takes place where people are targeted, innocent civilians are targeted, and the suspects and perpetrators are discovered or suspected to be muslim, the entire faith community comes under attack or scrutiny. there's a sense of whenever an incident like this takes place, dear god, don't let it be muslim. last night we learnt the identity of one possibly is muslim, the suspect. >> the fear came up before the sense of dread you've been that. >> absolutely. there's a disparity we see in how these kind of incidents are reported on when the suspects are thought to be muslim. >> has it always been this way? >> it definitely seems more recently there's more pressure on the muslim community. of course, our hearts go out to the victims and the families of

the victims, and the muslim community unequivocally condemned the attacks. communities have been stepping up to say it's not islam. >> you have seen attacks on communities, on mosks and individuals. >> there's recently been an unprecedented level... >> unprecedented. >> since post 9/11 the frequency of attacks and threats that muslims experienced have been something we have not seen to this level before. >> it's frightening. >> what have you seen? >> hate crimes, bias attacks against people who are muslim or perceived to be muslim. racial profiling and religious profiling of muslims that might be travelling. planes. >> there has been attacks on individuals.

pittsburgh. >> absolutely, there was a taxi cam driver shot by a passenger allegedly. it's really a heart-breaking incident, you know. >> shot why? >> apparently it seems that the taxi grab driver was questioned about i.s.i.s. and about terrorist organization, his religion and faith. it's tightening that anyone would be targeted because of their faith or appear to be targeted because of their faith. >> you have said that these are attacks coming at an unprecedented level in the experience of your organization. what do you attribute it to. is it the situation in paris, is it the situation in california. what do you think is provoking community. >> a factor that

can't be ignored is anti-islamic faith officials. >> such as. >> we have ben carson, and donald trump making reckless comments, these have inflamed tensions and propagated the idea that muslims are not american. >> do you have a sense that politicians are working after all this, we are heading into an election year, an election season. do you see there being an you attempt by the figures to increase the sense of dread. we hope that they tone it down. and politicians will speak. and reframe from making comments

towards any faith community. implication. it doesn't have to be that people are making threats. when a politician powers extremism with an implication that it's related to a faith community, what happens? >> that inflames tensions and creates a sense within american's ninth, 50 or 60% of the population has never met a muslim that will they are aware of, that creates more distance between, you know, muslim americans, and americans of other faith and no faith. >> appreciate your being here with us. marylands council on american islamic relations. >> anxiety and fears of

a backlash. as we have been told. pt sympathy shared for survivors of the shooting and the families of the victims. we cannot imagine the roller-coaster the day after san bernardino's tragedy. we turn to someone that can understand the emotion. in our series "reaching out" we heard from a woman that lost her brother to the worst mass shooting history. >> i'm jen. you don't know, but my brother jeremy was a student at virginia tech killed in a mass shooting similar to a mass shooting that your loved ones were killed in. you don't expect these things. you don't expect to go to work and not to come home. you don't expect to go to school and not to come home, to be killed. you can't make sense of what has

happened. this is not real. my life had just, like, frozen in that moment, learning that he was dead. it was like, wait, wait. i don't know, i was in a complete state of shock. in that first week, i wanted to know what to expect. what is my life going to be like in a month. i couldn't imagine how it was going to get to a month, two month, three months. i wanted someone to tell me, in six months it will be okay, you'll feel this way, in a year this is how you'll feel. you know, there's no guidebook to grief. i needed a purpose in my life, and i needed a way to connect with my older brother. as i ride from yorketown virginia to san francisco california, it was about 3700 miles. when i got to san francisco, i life.

i couldn't make my brother come back, i couldn't make the world fair, i can't make senseless acts of violence, like what happened to my brother happen again. i stuck on this earth and find a way to do anything again. i could do the things he never had the opportunity to do. there are days when i am mad as hell that he is not here. mad at him for not being here. mad at the person who killed him and the people that i pointed my fingers at for years, because all of the things that i felt could have prevented this. i continue to pay my brother's cell phone bills. this is seven years out. one of the things i was so afraid of losingway - i didn't

want to forget his voice. >> hello, this is jeremy, i can't come to the phone right now, leave a message, and i'll get back to you. >> it's short, but it is what it is. nothing anyone could have told me in the days or weeks or months would have told me that jeremy was dead. nothing they could have told me would have taken the pain away from my heart. nothing they told me would have ex-peediated the grieving process. or would have made it go away, would have taken away the fact that my brother was gone and he'd never come back again. but... ..but, at - seven years out, i know that

there's a way to survive the death of your - of a loved one. there's a way to learn to live life again, and it's not going to be easy. it's not going to be fun, it's not going to be pleasant or a joy ride. there's a way to survive it a voice of encouragement and hope. next, a return to the other face of el nino, where the powerful weather system is starving a community to death. a monstrous impact in central america and families struggling to survive.

could it be the next trigger

for a mass migration north. there's roughly a million in guatemala in jeopardy. the danger starvation, the result of a monster el nino, a crisis caused by the weather system. we look at what is happening mercer. >> >> reporter: this man and his family work hard to prepare the fields and plant them with corn. nothing could prepare them for the effects of el nino. it is being blamed for a drought which gripped guatemala for much of the past year. the 44-year-old farmer says his family's entire corn harvest was ruined.

poverty is widespread with millions of people surviving off the land. changing weather is cause for alarm. the world food program's mike vargas has been visiting subsisting farmers, some going a month and a half without rain during the growing season. in some parts of central america, an estimated 60% of corn and 80% of bean crops may be lost. the united nations says hundreds of thousands of families will need food swns. >> this is the worst dry season. it has been hit very hard. nearly 2.5 million are affected. >> inside the tiny shack.

his wife prepares tortias. they eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. today she had to borrow corn meal for the noon time meal. as each day passes, making sure the five children get enough to eat is more of a struggle. working to buy food is not much of an option. jobs pay as little as $5 a day, if you are lucky to find one. in guatemala, when foot is scars, the youngest suffer the most. nearly half of all guatemalan children are malnourished, the fourth highest rate in the world. inside the hospital an hour from

the community children are treated for malnutrition. this 5-month-old is nearing the end of her stay. she suffers from a potentially fatal severe malnutrition caused by protein deficiency. >> when she arrived, she was so swollen with fluids, she could hardly open her eyes. mutt reply that by thous -- multiply that by thousands, and it's easy to see the --. people working in drought-raved areas say there are signs that it is happening. between the drought and the poor local economy, this 21-year-old teacher by training dreams of a better life far from her

community. >> the majority of gauta maulans are sub -- guatemalans are subsistence farmers. it may appear to be a solution, it could deal a blow to the communities hit by drought >>:

el nino is expected to continue until march, bringing more wild weather. guatemala's subsistence farmers hope the predictions are wrong, their family's futures depend on it and we'll watch and see what happens for that. that is "america tonight". tell us what you think at aljazeera.com/americatonight. talk to us on twitter or facebook, and come back, we'll have more of "america tonight" tomorrow. >> everyone has a story... and the only way to see all of nd the only way to see all of >> >> >> u.s. police say say couple

behind a mass shooting in california had a huge arsenal and carefully planned their attack. this is al jazeera live from doha. also ahead on the program, russian and turkish foreign ministers meet for the first time since the downing of the russian jet near the syrian border, but the stand off continues. germany will voluntarily on plans to deploy its military in the