San Bernardino Attacker's Brother-In-Law Wonders If Killer Was Brainwashed

As officials attempt to determine why Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik gunned down 14 people and injured 21 others at the Inland Regional Center during a holiday party, Farook's brother-in-law spoke with NBC News about the shooters' lives and said he is working to adopt the couple's 6-month-old daughter.

Farhan Khan, who is married to Farook's sister, said during a sit-down interview with NBC News' Lester Holt  that he was baffled by the couple's actions. Farook and Malik left their daughter with her grandmother on Wednesday morning, before opening fire during an event with Farook's co-workers.

"God gave you the gift of a daughter, and you left that kid behind. What do you achieve?" Khan said during the exchange, which was published on Friday. He said he wants to adopt the little girl.

Khan added that he was "very upset and angry," and the magnitude of what occurred hits him "every few hours."

He described his brother-in-law as not at all political, but a "good, religious person, just normal." He said he couldn't point to anything that would prompt Farook to carry out a mass shooting. The couple, who died Wednesday in a shootout with police, had stockpiled bombs and ammunition at their home.

Authorities are still scrambling to nail down a motive for the shooting. One U.S. intelligence official told The Associated Press that Farook had connected with Islamic extremists  on social media.

But Khan said Farook was "not radical," and that he and Malik were a "happy couple."

"Couches, TV, kitchen. I mean, you know, a play area, a treadmill to run," Khan said. "[Farook] liked to work on cars. I mean, that was his hobby, to go buy a used car, work on it. He loved buying used Mustangs, fix it, and then sell it."

Officials on Thursday began identifying some of the 14 people killed in the attack. Khan told NBC News that he thinks the massacre was a "personal act," and characterized Farook as a "bad person." But he's still desperate for answers.

"Did somebody brainwash him? Something snap him? What -- did he have -- a fight at work? And I'm waiting … to hear what really happened," he said.

Authorities are treating the case as a possible terrorist act , The New York Times reported. But officials have said they aren't ready yet to specify any certain motive for the killers' actions. The Times also reported that FBI agents found Farook had deleted information from his electronic devices before the attacks, leading them to assume he was planning the massacre. 

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