A married couple who killed 14 people in California last week financed their shooting rampage with a $28,500 loan from an online lender, investigators said on December 8.
About two weeks before attack, the sum was deposited into the bank account of Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, who obtained the loan from San Francisco-based Prosper, an online lending service that arranged the financing through WebBank.com.
The method of financing the crime appears to be unique and unprecedented.
Farook reportedly withdrew $10,000 of the loan proceeds on November 20 and may have used the money to purchase two AR-15 semiautomatic weapons used in the attack from a friend and distant relative, Enrique Marquez.
In addition, in the days before the attack, at least three transfers of $5,000 were put into the account of Farook's mother, Rafia.
The couple left their infant daughter in the custody of the grandmother before going on the shooting spree.