San Bernardino shooters quietly buried at far-away graveyard after local cemetery refuses to accept killers' bodies
By Meg Wagner
The San Bernardino couple who slaughtered 14 people at an office holiday party were quietly buried in a sparsely attended funeral Tuesday at a Muslim graveyard after another cemetery rejected the killers' bodies.
A swarm of FBI agents stood guard as Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik were laid to rest at an undisclosed Muslim cemetery hours away from San Bernardino.
A facility much closer to the terrorist couple's home refused to bury the pair, fearing backlash and possible grave vandalism, sources told Reuters.
U.S.-born Farook, 28, and his Pakistani-born wife Malik, 29, died in a shootout with police, hours after the armed couple shot and killed 14 people and injured another 21 during a Dec. 2 holiday party for San Bernardino's health department.
Only about 10 people — mostly Farook's family and his fellow mosque members — showed up to the graveside funeral, which was guarded by FBI agents. Most Muslims in the community refused to participate in the burial or perform the funeral prayer, called Salat Al-Janazah.
San Bernardino shooters Syed Farook (l.) and Tashfeen Malik were buried Tuesday, nearly two weeks after they died in a police shootout following their massacre at an office holiday party. (-/AFP/Getty Images)
"I don't forgive him myself," said a mosque-goer who did not attend the funeral. Still, he added, "I pray mercy for him, and we Muslims know God is merciful. But he's also just."
While Muslim tradition calls for the deceased to be buried within 24 hours of death, the two were buried nearly two weeks later as their families waited for the bodies to be released by law enforcement officials and then for permission from a cemetery.
Regardless, the burials followed other Muslim rituals: the bodies were cleansed according to Islamic rules and wrapped in traditional white cloth.
Farook and Malik left behind a 6-month-old daughter, who has been in state custody since the massacre. Farook's sister and brother-in-law have said they hope to adopt their niece.
Sierra Clayborn, 27, was originally from LA, according to her Facebook profile, and worked in the county's health department. (Facebook)
Funerals for the couples' victims — colleagues who worked with Farook at San Bernardino County's health department — began last week.
White Doves flew and strangers hugged last Thursday a ceremony for 27-year-old daughter Yvette Velasco, the first of the 14 shooting victims to be buried.
Families of killers often have trouble finding final resting spots for their murderous loved ones.
The family of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the two men accused of carrying out the Boston Marathon bombing attack in 2013, wanted to bury his body in Massachusetts after he was killed in a police shootout after the attack, but local graveyards refused to accept the body.
This image obtained from the San Bernardino County Sheriff, shows the vehicle used by the suspects in the Dec. 2 mass shooting. (-/AFP/Getty Images)
The family ultimately buried him in an unmarked grave in Virginia.
Fearing any grave would be defaced, Columbine shooter Dylan Klebold's family elected to cremate his body after he committed suicide during the rampage,
Adam Lanza, the gunman who killed himself after he slaughtered 20 first graders and adults at Newtown's Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, was ultimately buried in an undisclosed location. His grave is not marked.
With News Wire Services
mwagner@nydailynews.com