San Bernardino Shooter’s Sister Hopes to Adopt Their Orphaned Baby Daughter
On Wednesday, December 2, countless innocent lives were destroyed by a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, that killed 14 people and injured 21 more. Among those innocents was the infant daughter of alleged shooters Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, who is only six months old and who probably faces a very difficult future ahead of her.
According to Yahoo News, Farook’s older sister, Saira Khan, and her husband are hoping to adopt the baby girl and raise her with their own children. Farook and Malik reportedly left the baby with her grandmother before launching their horrible attack in San Bernardino, and the baby was taken into protective custody after the attack was over. The San Bernardino County Sheriff says there will be a dependency hearing soon to see where the baby will live, at least for now. The Khans say they are hoping she will be able to come live with them and their children.
The Khans say the attack in San Bernardino was horrific, and they were stunned and horrified to hear that their brother and his wife were responsible, especially because they had a brand new baby at home who needed them.
“It’s harder for us to understand, especially knowing that he was our brother and he was so happy with her,” Saira Khan said. “How can he leave his only child, you know? And how could the mother do this?”
The Khans have a 2-year-old daughter and a 7-year-old son, and say they hope to adopt Farook and Malik’s orphaned daughter to give her “a stable upbringing.”
“For the time being, we want her to enjoy her innocence,” Saira Khan told ABC News’ Kayna Whitworth. “You know, we don’t want her to know everything, but I think eventually she will find out probably on her own.”
That is an excellent goal, but it will be very difficult to achieve under the circumstances, as the Khans know. They will only be able to shield their niece from the truth for so long. Someday she’s going to want to know what happened to her parents, and that’s going to be a very hard truth to learn.
(Photo: Ocskaymark/iStockPhoto/GettyImages)
