Fox News Host Greta Van Susteren Praises Police for Response to San Bernardino Rampage: 'We Should All Be Proud'

Dec 04, 2015 02:43 PM EST

Greta Van Susteren, the host of "On the Record" on the Fox News Channel, recently praised the San Bernardino law enforcement for the way they responded to Wednesday's terrorist attack, which left 14 dead and 21 others injured.

"I know, I sound like a broken record talking about the police, but I must again tonight," she said during an "On the Record" segment on Thursday evening. "I want to go on the record noting my appreciation and admiration for law enforcement. Yesterday's job by the law enforcement in San Bernardino was something we all should all be proud of. The call went out  - a shooting - and more than 300 law enforcement officers respond[ed], running towards danger, not away."

She added, "As our hearts bleed for the 14 massacred victims and their families and friends and the injured, it was law enforcement risking their lives who stopped the killers before the killers could kill more, with a gun or with their bomb-making factory at home."

As reported by the Gospel Herald, Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Malik, 27, were killed in a shootout with police after carrying out an attack on San Bernardino's Inland Regional Center with four guns and explosives. Prior to the massacre, Malik had pledged allegiance to the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, law enforcement sources told NBC News.

Farook also appeared to have been radicalized and had been in touch with people in the Los Angeles area who expressed support for jihad, according to NBC. Intelligence sources said he appeared to have been in communication with people overseas who are of interest to U.S. authorities.

After raiding the couple's Redlands, California home, police discovered they had amassed an arsenal, including a dozen pipe bomb-style devices and more than 4,500 rounds of ammunition, as well as the 1,600 rounds they had in the rental car they were driving during their face-off with police.

Recordings of Wednesday's police radio traffic show just how rapidly events unfolded as 300 officers from agencies across the region sped to the scene, evacuated the victims and tracked down the suspects, the LA Times notes.

"There was a very short response time, they did a follow-up very rapidly and got on top of the suspects," said Scott Reitz, a former Los Angeles Police Department SWAT officer and instructor. "I'm absolutely impressed. That sometimes takes hours or days."

San Bernardino police chief Jarrod Burguan also praised his fellow police for their handling of the incident, which has been recognized as the nation's worst mass shooting since the 2012 attack at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

"I'm incredibly proud of the way our folks responded," he said during a press conference on Thursday. "Not only with the initial response here and for the help that we got from our local and regional partners, but for the way that they engaged in that officer-involved shooting...that was nothing short of heroic. I am extremely proud of the way they handled that."