Report: San Bernardino shooter planned earlier attack

Investigators believe San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook may have been plotting an earlier attack in California with someone else, CNN reported on Tuesday, citing two U.S. officials.

One of the officials told CNN the two conspired in 2012 and a specific target was considered. Neither of the officials could say how serious the plotting got, CNN said.

One official said the two decided not to go through with the earlier attack after a round of terror-related arrests in the area, CNN reported.

“They got spooked,” the official said.

CNN did not give the name of the other plotter.

So far in the investigation, the FBI has revealed little of what it's learned about Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik and their planning, except for details about the weaponry they had, materials they had to make more pipe bombs and that both had been taking target practice.

Investigators also are trying to determine a money trail for funding of the operation. A U.S. official said Tuesday authorities are looking into a deposit made to Farook's bank account prior to the shooting. The official, who had been briefed on the investigation but was not authorized to discuss it by name and spoke on condition of anonymity, would not further characterize the nature of the deposit or what was suspicious about it.

On Sunday, officials said that they were looking into the possibility of whether Tashfeen Malik radicalized Farook, her American-born husband and was the driving force in the San Bernardino mass shooting that left 14 people dead at a holiday luncheon.

That possibility emerged late last week when it was disclosed that the Pakistani-born Malik had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in a Facebook post at about the same time she and husband Syed Farook launched the attack Wednesday.

One U.S. official said there appears to be nothing in Farook's history that would implicate him as the driver of the attack.

Malik, 29, and Farook, 28, were killed in a furious shootout with police hours after they opened fire with assault rifles on a gathering of Farook's colleagues from the San Bernardino County public health department, where he worked as a restaurant inspector.

Also on Tuesday, the social service center that was the site of the mass shooting will not reopen until next year. Spokeswoman Leeza Hoyt said Tuesday the center will open sometime after Jan. 1. She said authorities are keeping everyone out of the three-building complex while they investigate the attack.

When authorities allow people back into the buildings, they will require cleaning and repair, Hoyt said, who added, "There's been a fair amount of damage. I'm told there's broken glass and doors."

Al Jazeera with wire services