At Least 14 Dead in California Shooting, Two Suspects Killed
.
At least 14 people were killed and two suspects were dead Wednesday after two
people on a mission that authorities described as "possibly
terrorism" barged into a holiday party in a California conference room and
unleashed a bloodbath.
The
shooters fled in a black SUV after the rampage at about 11 a.m. (2 p.m. ET)
inside the Inland Regional Center, a state-run center for people with
developmental disabilities in San Bernardino, about 55 miles east of downtown
Los Angeles, police said.
Seventeen
other people were wounded, they said. Authorities said that no motive had been
determined and that terrorism had not been ruled out.
Police
said "explosive devices" were found inside the resource center during
a secondary sweep and that they were rendered safe.
Marybeth
Feild, president of the center's board of trustees, said the gunfire erupted in
a conference room where the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health
was holding a banquet.
About
4½ hours after the shootings, police checking a lead in the nearby town of
Redlands began chasing a car believed to be related to the incident, San
Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said. The chase led back to San
Bernardino, where two people described as suspects — a man and a woman — were killed, he
said.
They
were identified as Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, a U.S.-born environmental specialist
for San Bernardino County, and Tashfeen Malik, 27, about whom little was known.
A
third person who was seen running away from the shootout scene was in custody,
Burguan said. Investigators weren't able to begin searching the vehicle until
Wednesday night, after they had rendered explosives at that scene safe, he
said.
He
said an officer was shot in the confrontation but didn't suffer a
life-threatening wound and was expected to be OK.
Burguan
said Farook and Malik were related in some fashion, possibly as husband and
wife or as an engaged couple. A person named Syed Farook is listed in public
records as a resident of the Redlands address from which police tracked the SUV
involved in the shootout.
Burguan
said the suspects were armed with assault-style rifles and semiautomatic
handguns. Sources close to the investigation told NBC News that the ATF had
traced four firearms and that two of them were known to have been purchased
legally by an individual connected to the investigation. Information on the two
other firearms wasn't available.
'These people came prepared'
Authorities
said 10 of the 17 injured were taken to hospitals in critical condition. Fire
Chief Tom Hannemann said three people were in serious condition.
It
appeared to be the worst mass shooting since the December 2012 slaughter of
20 first-graders and six staffers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown,
Connecticut.
"These
people came prepared to do what they did as if they were on a mission,"
Burguan said. "They were armed with long guns, not with handguns."
California
Gov. Jerry Brown canceled the state's annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony
Wednesday night "out of respect for Californians affected by today's
tragedy," although the tree itself will still be lighted.
"California
will spare no effort in bringing these killers to justice," Brown said.
All
San Bernardino County offices within the city of San Bernardino will be were
closed Thursday, county officials said.
Luis
Gutierrez said that he spoke to his wife, who works in the facility, and that
she told him that a gunman she saw was dressed all in the black, wearing a flak
jacket of some kind and a mask on his face. He said the people on her floor
began barricading their doors after hearing the shots.
'No parallels'
President
Barack Obama was briefed by Lisa Monaco, his homeland security adviser, and
asked to be updated as the situation develops, a White House official said.
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