SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — A mass shooting in San Bernardino, California on Wednesday left 14 people dead and at least 17 people injured, Police Chief Jarrod Burguan told reporters. The numbers could change, he said.
Three gunmen opened fire with assault-style weapons on Wednesday at the Inland Regional Center, a Southern California social services center for people with developmental disabilities.
An explosive device was also found in the facility, which was still being searched and swept by law enforcement 7 hours after the shooting began. Police said officers would remain on the scene several more hours, and that officers at the facility are being extra cautious due to the device.
At 5:45 PST San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon said two suspects were dead–one man and one woman. They were killed in a shootout with police after a car chase.
One officer was injured in the shootout, but he’s expected to recover.
A third suspect who was running from the area of the scene was detained, though police don’t know if he was involved in the shooting. It’s not known if there are other suspects.
Law enforcemetn officials told the Associated Press that one of the suspects is Syed Farook, though there’s been no official confirmation of that report.
The two suspects were killed; one was killed on the street, and the other was found in the bullet-ridden car. During the pursuit suspects threw what appeared to be pipe bombs out the windows of the black SUV, but police rendered the devices inert.
The suspects were armed with assault rifles and handguns, which the ATF said it recovered around 6:30 p.m. PST. ATF said it was conducting “urgent traces” on the origins of the guns.
A third suspect ran from the area of the car and was detained, but police say they don’t yet know if he was involved in the IRC shooting.
Police said they were treating the car with extreme caution because they are concerned there may be explosive devices inside.
Around 5 p.m. PST police moved back in on the house in Redlands, California to serve a search warrant in connection with the deadly shooting at the social services facility in neighboring San Bernardino. They have not yet entered the house.
Sheriff McMahon said earlier in the day police believed the suspect or suspects left the IRC shooting in a black SUV, possibly a GMC Yukon. They issued a warning in a radio call that was being monitored by all law enforcement in the immediate area. It appears that the SUV that was shot was the involved car.
When asked about a motive, head of the Los Angeles FBI, David Bowdich, said, “We do not know if this is a terrorist incident.”
Inland Regional Center Executive Director Lavinia Johnson said that she believes county health officials were having a holiday event at a conference center at the facility when the shooting broke out there.
Officials were told that multiple people entered a room and began shooting. Witnesses told police they saw three men with long rifles, a law enforcement source told CNN. San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan confirmed the gunmen had long guns.
“These were people that came prepared. … They were armed with long guns, not hand guns,” he said. “They came prepared to do what they did as if they were on a mission.”
While the SWAT team was clearing the building, a bomb squad located a suspicious package on the center’s second floor.The package was determined “not normal” by an explosive ordnance disposal team, and a robot was sent in to handle it.
The first calls came in at 10:59 a.m. PST reporting multiple shots fired from the area of 1365 S. Waterman Ave. Several law enforcement agencies converged on the scene.
The shooting — less than three weeks after the Paris attacks that left 130 people dead — immediately raised the specter of terrorism, especially after the San Bernardino police said there may have been more than one gunman, and President Barack Obama was briefed on the situation by his homeland security adviser. Police shed no immediate light on a motive.
As victims began pouring out of the building, some were seen being wheeled away on gurneys, while others walked out quickly with their hands up. They were searched by officers before being reunited with loved ones.
Loma Linda University Medical Center received seven patients, while Arrowhead Regional Medical Center received six. In all, at least 17 were hurt.
Loma Linda’s spokesperson said two adults remain in critical, but stable condition, while two are in fair condition. A fifth is being assessed.
At Arrowhead, one is in critical, but stable condition. Four others are in stable condition. A sixth was released a short time ago.
Both hospitals received bomb threats, causing the areas to be locked down. There is still enhanced security at Arrowhead.
Gov. Jerry Brown said in a statement: “California will spare no effort in bringing these killers to justice.”
President Barack Obama reiterated his call for more gun control reforms in the wake of the mass shooting. Speaking to CBS News, Obama said Congress should act in a bipartisan manner to close loopholes, including one that allows people on the TSA no-fly list to legally purchase firearms.
“There are steps we can take to make Americans safer,” he said. “We should never think this is something that just happens in the normal course of events.”
Obama said the pattern of U.S. mass shootings “has no parallel anywhere else in the world.”
Obama had been briefed on the shooting by his homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco moments before speaking with CBS News for a prescheduled interview.
Obama has spoken forcefully about the need for additional gun control laws to reduce the number of mass shootings in the country in the wake of past incidents in the country. Speaking to reporters in Paris just a day earlier, Obama touched on the news of a shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic on Friday in which a lone gunman killed three people.
“I mean, I say this every time we go one of these mass shootings, this just doesn’t happen in other countries,” Obama said Tuesday.
The Associated Press, CNN and KTLA contributed to this report.
