Date: Sat, 5 Dec 2015 23:22:50 -0500
PICTURED: The father-of-three NFL player's cousin, 60, who was killed
during the terror attack in San Bernardino
By Chris Pleasance For Dailymail.com
Published: 18:34 EST, 5 December 2015 | Updated: 20:43 EST, 5 December 2015
The 60-year-old cousin of New York Giants' safety Nat Berhe has been
pictured for the first time since being killed in the San Bernardino
massacre four days ago.
Isaac Amanios, who was born in Eritrea in 1955 and lived through the
country's brutal war of independence, fled his home country to escape
violence and came to America in 2000.
A father-of-three, relatives said Amanios was looking forward to seeing all
of his children graduate college, which they are all currently attending.
According to the LA Times, Amanios leaves behind wife Hiwet, who works as
registered nurse at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center.
The health department worker is also survived by sons Bruk and Joseph and
daughter, Milka.
Abraham Amanios, Isaac's brother, said: 'Nowhere is safe. It makes you
think that wherever I go in public... there is the chance of being
threatened or attacked.'
Meanwhile Berhe paid tribute to Amanios the day after his death, calling
him a 'great human being.'
He later tweeted: 'Just got word that one of my cousins was among the 14
killed yesterday, I'm so sick right now.
'The true terror is that this keeps happening. I still can't believe it.
Take a moment to think of the families hurting right now.'
Amanios was one of 14 people killed by terrorist gunmen Syed Farook and
Tashfeen Malik at Inland Regional Center during a staff Christmas party
this week.
Farook and his wife are thought to have viewed extreme material and Farook
may have been in contact with two Al Qaeda-affiliated groups before
launching the attack.
Isaac's brother Abraham Amanios (far right) and relatives Fessehatsion
Gebreselassie (center) and Fobel Tekleab (left) said he was looking forward
to seeing all three of his children graduate college
The pair burst into the center at around 11am on Wednesday morning before
opening fire on staff who had just given them a baby shower for their
daughter just six months before.
As well as the 14 killed, another 19 were wounded before Farook and Malik
fled in a black SUV.
The couple were later discovered around a mile and a half from the center
by a police officer carrying out a traffic stop, before opening fire once
more, wounding the cop.
They then threw pipe bombs, which failed to detonate, out of the windows of
their car before dying in a hail of bullets as heavily armed officers
closed in.
It was initially thought that the massacre, the worst in the U.S. since the
Sandy Hook school shootings, could have been related to a workplace
argument Farook was thought to have had with a colleague on the day of the
killings.
However, yesterday the FBI announced it was investigating the murders as an
act of terror, and today President Obama used the same terminology to
describe the attacks.
On Thursday, the day after Amanios was killed, Berhe paid tribute to him on
Twitter, calling him a 'great human' and adding: 'I still can't believe it.
Take a moment to think of the families hurting right now'
Authorities are believed to be looking at the possibility that the couple
were radicalized online before carrying out their attacks as 'lone wolves',
independent of any larger terror cell.
Another possibility, raised by friends of Farook, is that he was
radicalized by his wife who was born in Pakistan but lived in Saudi Arabia
before the pair met on a dating site.
They met in person for the first time in 2013 before getting married. Malik
then came to the U.S. in 2014, and the couple settled in California.
Friends of Farook, who attended mosque with him, have raised the prospect
that he may have turned to extremism as little as four weeks ago after he
stopped going to prayers.
(image/jpeg attachment: 0-Isaac_Amanios.jpg)