UPDATE: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the start date for Enrique Marquez's trial.
Autopsy reports released Friday on the 14 victims who died in the Dec. 2 terrorist attack in San Bernardino shed more light on the horrific scene at the Inland Regional Center and the exhaustive investigation that followed.
In their investigation reports, deputy coroner’s investigators described a scene of disarray in the 85-by-40-foot conference room at the IRC where the shooting occurred. Chairs, food, Christmas decorations and bullet casings were strewn about the room, bullet holes riddled the ceiling, walls, furniture and floor, and the carpet was saturated with water from fire sprinklers that had been activated during the mass shooting.
County health inspector Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, 29, stormed the conference room at the center just before 11 a.m. and – clad in tactical gear, wearing ski masks and armed with assault rifles – opened fire on more than 70 employees of the county Environmental Health Services division, where Farook worked.
The county employees were attending a training seminar and holiday party in the leased conference room.
FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said in an email Friday she could not comment on the findings in the autopsy reports and whether they advanced the criminal investigation.
The crime scene was so extensive that most of the deputy coroner’s investigators who examined the bodies were not called to the IRC until 14 hours after the 10:59 a.m. attack. And while two of the victims’ bodies were examined late into the night Dec. 2, most of the bodies were examined during the early morning hours of Dec. 3, the records show.
Details in the reports indicate the victims may have been caught off guard when they were shot.
One male victim was found seated upright on a bench outside the center, his feet on the ground, head resting on his shoulder and his cell phone sitting on the bench next to him. Another male victim was found lying face-up on the floor in the conference room, one leg elevated and resting on the chair next to him, indicating he may have fallen off the chair after he was shot.
Jennifer Thalasinos, whose husband, Nicholas, died in the attack, said Friday that the release of the autopsy reports was hard for her.
“This has been a rough few weeks,” she said. She said she lost a “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” charm from a bracelet her late husband had given her, which had great sentimental value. She also found herself emotionally wrecked when she saw Celine Dion sing one of her husband’s favorite songs on the Billboard Music Awards.
Thalasinos said she has not read the coroner’s report, but she knows the contents. FBI officials delivered a copy to her on Tuesday and explained the report.
“The one thing that helped me was he died within seconds,” she said of her husband. “He was shot in the lung and that, apparently, is why he died so quickly.”
From the assessment of the crime scene, she said, “I’m surprised more people weren’t killed. It sounds like there were bullets flying all over the place.”
Renee Wetzel, wife of Mike Wetzel, said, “We miss Mike every second of every day. I desperately wish that this incredibly personal thing was not made public.”