By — Margaret Myers Margaret Myers By — Joshua Barajas Joshua Barajas Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/officials-confirm-active-shooter-in-san-bernardino-california Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter 14 dead in San Bernardino shooting; two suspects dead Nation Dec 2, 2015 2:56 PM EDT WHAT WE KNOW NOW: Gunmen opened fire inside a social services agency building in San Bernardino, California, Wednesday morning. Fourteen people were killed and 17 wounded. The suspects fled the scene, triggering a manhunt that led to a shootout that killed two suspects, one man and one woman, who had assault rifles and handguns. Another suspect was taken into custody. One officer was injured in the exchange. The two deceased suspects have been identified as Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Malik, 27. According to the FBI, it is not clear if the shooting is terrorism-related. UPDATED Dec. 3, 5:50 a.m. EST | Suspects Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik had been married for two years and had a 6-month-old baby at the time of the shooting, according to family. On Wednesday morning before the shooting, the couple left their baby with Farook’s mother and said they were going to a doctor’s appointment. People in San Bernardino gathered for a vigil late Wednesday night. #PHOTO UPDATED Dec. 3, 1:19 a.m. EST | San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan has identified the other suspect in Wednesday’s shooting as Tashfeen Malik, 27. She was in the SUV with Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, who was U.S.-born. Burguan described the relationship between the two suspects akin to a husband and wife, but he did not clarify if they were married. Farook was a San Bernardino County employee and attended a Christmas party-type event with county employees at the Inland Regional Center Wednesday morning. Burguan said Farook, an environmental health specialist, left the party early, and was described as “angry.” Originally authorities pointed to possibly three shooters, but now Burguan is saying that it’s likely there were only two, likely Farook and Malik. Burguan also said explosive devices were found at the crime scene building, and now have been cleared. He described them as “pipe bomb-like.” Police are still searching a home in Redlands, California, that is listed as Farook’s residence. UPDATED Dec. 3, 12:04 a.m. EST | Speaking at a press conference at the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Anaheim, California, Farhan Khan, the brother-in-law of suspect Syed Farook, said he spoke to Farook last week. “I have no idea … Why would he do something like this,” he said. He said he is the husband of Farook’s sister, who he declined to name. The family asked Khan to be their spokesperson, he said. UPDATED 10:45 p.m. EST | The Associated Press reports that law enforcement officials have identified one of the suspects as Syed Farook. UPDATED 8:43 p.m. EST | The two suspects in the black SUV that were involved in a police gun battle are dead. San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said the two, one man and one woman, had assault-style weapons on them, and that a third suspect was seen running away but has been detained. It is not known whether this person is a suspect. An SUV with its windows shot out that police suspect was the getaway vehicle from at the scene of a shooting in San Bernardino, California. Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters Burguan said police were led to a house in the city of Redlands, where a suspicious vehicle was seen leaving, and eventually drove down San Bernardino Ave., between Mountain View and Richardson. This is where police exchanged gunfire with the two suspects, and an officer was injured, with non life-threatening injuries, he said. The area around the vehicle is being swept for sensitive material. FBI Los Angeles Assistant Director David Bowdich said agents are also checking the house in Redlands for devices. He said it is not clear if today’s shooting is terrorism related. Burguan said a bomb squad is still in the process of clearing the Inland Regional Center to check out suspicious devices. One was believed to be explosive, he said. READ MORE: Here’s a map of all the mass shootings in 2015 UPDATED 8:23 p.m. EST | Briana Pastorino, spokeswoman for Loma Linda University Medical Center, the only level 1 trauma center in the area, said the hospital has received five adult patients, two patients in “critical but stable” condition, two in “fair” condition and one is still being assessed. Pastorino also confirmed the hospital reacted to a bomb threat, prompting a “code yellow alert,” and responded appropriately. A K-9 unit was dispatched, and all classes on campus were canceled. The incident is over but police remain on the scene. UPDATED 7:35 p.m. EST | The Associated Press reports that the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health has confirmed that several of its employees were inside the Inland Regional Center when gunmen opened fire Wednesday morning. UPDATED 7:09 p.m. EST | San Bernardino Police Sgt. Vicki Cervantes said that officers who located what appeared to be the suspects’ vehicle, exchanged fire with police, injuring one. That police officer was transported to a local hospital and does not appear to have life-threatening injuries. Cervantes said one suspect was hit, and another was “being dealt with.” There is another possible suspect still at large. There will be another briefing at 4:45 PST, with San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan. UPDATED 6:22 p.m. EST | San Bernardino Police Sgt. Vicki Cervantes said that the number of wounded has increased to 17, while fatalities remain at 14. Cervantes confirmed that the case is still an active situation, with police on the scene in the vicinity of a dark SUV, which had been fired upon. She said police believe one suspect is down, but she said, it is not confirmed that this suspect is related to today’s shooting. There is an active scene unfolding in San Bernardino. Preliminary info is a suspect is down, officers are ok. Not confirmed if related. — SB County Sheriff (@sbcountysheriff) December 2, 2015 Several police, and tactical vehicles, are on the scene of the shot-up SUV, trying to secure the scene. A police SWAT team searches a church during a manhunt after a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California Wednesday. Photo by Mike Blake/Reuters UPDATED 5:52 p.m. EST | A nurse from inside the Inland Regional Center shot footage of police entering the building around 11 a.m. The Los Angeles Times posted it on their YouTube page. UPDATED 5:37 p.m. EST | According to NBC Los Angeles, 70 elementary, middle and high schools are on lockdown in San Bernardino. The FAA has restricted flights over San Bernardino, “to provide a safe environment for law enforcement activities.” UPDATED 4:48 p.m. EST | At least 14 people are dead, and 14 injured, but that number could change, according to Chief Jarrod Burguan of the San Bernardino Police Department. Up to three people entered building and opened fire, Burguan said in a Wednesday afternoon press conference. Burguan said the suspects have fled, possibly in a dark SUV. The FBI says it does not know if this is a terrorist incident. No definitive description of suspects was given. Updates will be given every hour. NewsHour will live stream those here. UPDATED 4:34 p.m. EST | CBS News’s Norah O’Donnell spoke to President Barack Obama at the White House today, while the active shooting situation was going on. He told O’Donnell: “We have a pattern now of mass shootings in this country that has no parallel anywhere else in the world.” UPDATED 4:07 p.m. EST | According to the Associated Press, San Bernardino Police Sgt. Vicki Cervantes says “there are multiple casualties and there are some confirmed fatalities.” The Associated Press spoke to relatives of loved who were inside the building where the San Bernardino, California, shooting took place Wednesday. UPDATED 3:56 p.m. EST | Marybeth Feild, president and CEO of the Inland Regional Center, told the Associated Press that the shooting took place in a building that contained a library, conference center and usually housed at least 25 employees. She added that an unidentified, outside group rented the conference room Wednesday where the shooting took place. Police are still searching for one or more gunmen, the AP reports. UPDATED 3:33 p.m. EST | The Associated Press confirms that gunfire erupted at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California. Map by Reuters According to the Inland Regional Center Facebook page, the organization’s 670 staff members “provide services to more than 30,200 people with developmental disabilities and their families in San Bernardino and Riverside counties.” The AP reports that people were being “wheeled away on gurneys” while others “walked quickly from a building with their hands in the air and were searched by officers before being reunited with loved ones.” Agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Los Angeles Field Division have been dispatched to the scene. President Barack Obama has been briefed on the shooting by his homeland security adviser, Lisa Monaco, “and has asked to be kept informed as the situation develops,” the AP reports. Police officers secure the area after a shooting at a social services agency in San Bernardino, California, Wednesday. Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters UPDATED 3:14 p.m. EST | A Sheriff’s official told a local TV news station that one shooter was reportedly wearing body armor. A spokeswoman from Loma Linda Medical Center told CNN the hospital is expecting “an unknown number of patients.” The hospital is 2.6 miles away and has a trauma center. UPDATED 3:08 p.m. EST | The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department tweeted that there are one to three possible suspects in an active shooting situation taking place in San Bernardino, California. .@SanBernardinoPD has confirmed 1to3 possible suspects.Multiple victims. #SBCSD &other agencies assisting. More info to come. #SanBernardino — SB County Sheriff (@sbcountysheriff) December 2, 2015 As many as 20 people have been wounded, according to a tweet by the San Bernardino Fire Department Wednesday afternoon. https://twitter.com/SBCityFire/status/672131690978906112 San Bernardino Police Department Sgt. Vicki Cervantes told ABC7 that officers were responding to an “active shooter” at a social services facility. A local law enforcement spokesman told a local radio station that a bomb squad was being brought in to detonate “suspicious” packages. The Los Angeles Times reports that the shootings took place at a social services office on the 1300 block of Waterman Avenue, near Orange Show Road. Cindy Bachman of the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department said they received a call about an “active shooter” around 11 a.m. PST. San Bernardino is a city of 214,000 people about 60 miles east of Los Angeles. This is a developing story. The NewsHour will update as more information becomes available. Stephen Fee and William Brangham contributed to this report. By — Margaret Myers Margaret Myers Margaret Myers is the former Digital News Editor for PBS NewsHour. She is a former editor for ESPN.com. She also led the features department at the Amarillo Globe-News in west Texas. @margaretvm By — Joshua Barajas Joshua Barajas Joshua Barajas is a senior editor for the PBS NewsHour's Communities Initiative. He also the senior editor and manager of newsletters. @Josh_Barrage
WHAT WE KNOW NOW: Gunmen opened fire inside a social services agency building in San Bernardino, California, Wednesday morning. Fourteen people were killed and 17 wounded. The suspects fled the scene, triggering a manhunt that led to a shootout that killed two suspects, one man and one woman, who had assault rifles and handguns. Another suspect was taken into custody. One officer was injured in the exchange. The two deceased suspects have been identified as Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Malik, 27. According to the FBI, it is not clear if the shooting is terrorism-related. UPDATED Dec. 3, 5:50 a.m. EST | Suspects Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik had been married for two years and had a 6-month-old baby at the time of the shooting, according to family. On Wednesday morning before the shooting, the couple left their baby with Farook’s mother and said they were going to a doctor’s appointment. People in San Bernardino gathered for a vigil late Wednesday night. #PHOTO UPDATED Dec. 3, 1:19 a.m. EST | San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan has identified the other suspect in Wednesday’s shooting as Tashfeen Malik, 27. She was in the SUV with Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, who was U.S.-born. Burguan described the relationship between the two suspects akin to a husband and wife, but he did not clarify if they were married. Farook was a San Bernardino County employee and attended a Christmas party-type event with county employees at the Inland Regional Center Wednesday morning. Burguan said Farook, an environmental health specialist, left the party early, and was described as “angry.” Originally authorities pointed to possibly three shooters, but now Burguan is saying that it’s likely there were only two, likely Farook and Malik. Burguan also said explosive devices were found at the crime scene building, and now have been cleared. He described them as “pipe bomb-like.” Police are still searching a home in Redlands, California, that is listed as Farook’s residence. UPDATED Dec. 3, 12:04 a.m. EST | Speaking at a press conference at the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Anaheim, California, Farhan Khan, the brother-in-law of suspect Syed Farook, said he spoke to Farook last week. “I have no idea … Why would he do something like this,” he said. He said he is the husband of Farook’s sister, who he declined to name. The family asked Khan to be their spokesperson, he said. UPDATED 10:45 p.m. EST | The Associated Press reports that law enforcement officials have identified one of the suspects as Syed Farook. UPDATED 8:43 p.m. EST | The two suspects in the black SUV that were involved in a police gun battle are dead. San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said the two, one man and one woman, had assault-style weapons on them, and that a third suspect was seen running away but has been detained. It is not known whether this person is a suspect. An SUV with its windows shot out that police suspect was the getaway vehicle from at the scene of a shooting in San Bernardino, California. Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters Burguan said police were led to a house in the city of Redlands, where a suspicious vehicle was seen leaving, and eventually drove down San Bernardino Ave., between Mountain View and Richardson. This is where police exchanged gunfire with the two suspects, and an officer was injured, with non life-threatening injuries, he said. The area around the vehicle is being swept for sensitive material. FBI Los Angeles Assistant Director David Bowdich said agents are also checking the house in Redlands for devices. He said it is not clear if today’s shooting is terrorism related. Burguan said a bomb squad is still in the process of clearing the Inland Regional Center to check out suspicious devices. One was believed to be explosive, he said. READ MORE: Here’s a map of all the mass shootings in 2015 UPDATED 8:23 p.m. EST | Briana Pastorino, spokeswoman for Loma Linda University Medical Center, the only level 1 trauma center in the area, said the hospital has received five adult patients, two patients in “critical but stable” condition, two in “fair” condition and one is still being assessed. Pastorino also confirmed the hospital reacted to a bomb threat, prompting a “code yellow alert,” and responded appropriately. A K-9 unit was dispatched, and all classes on campus were canceled. The incident is over but police remain on the scene. UPDATED 7:35 p.m. EST | The Associated Press reports that the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health has confirmed that several of its employees were inside the Inland Regional Center when gunmen opened fire Wednesday morning. UPDATED 7:09 p.m. EST | San Bernardino Police Sgt. Vicki Cervantes said that officers who located what appeared to be the suspects’ vehicle, exchanged fire with police, injuring one. That police officer was transported to a local hospital and does not appear to have life-threatening injuries. Cervantes said one suspect was hit, and another was “being dealt with.” There is another possible suspect still at large. There will be another briefing at 4:45 PST, with San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan. UPDATED 6:22 p.m. EST | San Bernardino Police Sgt. Vicki Cervantes said that the number of wounded has increased to 17, while fatalities remain at 14. Cervantes confirmed that the case is still an active situation, with police on the scene in the vicinity of a dark SUV, which had been fired upon. She said police believe one suspect is down, but she said, it is not confirmed that this suspect is related to today’s shooting. There is an active scene unfolding in San Bernardino. Preliminary info is a suspect is down, officers are ok. Not confirmed if related. — SB County Sheriff (@sbcountysheriff) December 2, 2015 Several police, and tactical vehicles, are on the scene of the shot-up SUV, trying to secure the scene. A police SWAT team searches a church during a manhunt after a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California Wednesday. Photo by Mike Blake/Reuters UPDATED 5:52 p.m. EST | A nurse from inside the Inland Regional Center shot footage of police entering the building around 11 a.m. The Los Angeles Times posted it on their YouTube page. UPDATED 5:37 p.m. EST | According to NBC Los Angeles, 70 elementary, middle and high schools are on lockdown in San Bernardino. The FAA has restricted flights over San Bernardino, “to provide a safe environment for law enforcement activities.” UPDATED 4:48 p.m. EST | At least 14 people are dead, and 14 injured, but that number could change, according to Chief Jarrod Burguan of the San Bernardino Police Department. Up to three people entered building and opened fire, Burguan said in a Wednesday afternoon press conference. Burguan said the suspects have fled, possibly in a dark SUV. The FBI says it does not know if this is a terrorist incident. No definitive description of suspects was given. Updates will be given every hour. NewsHour will live stream those here. UPDATED 4:34 p.m. EST | CBS News’s Norah O’Donnell spoke to President Barack Obama at the White House today, while the active shooting situation was going on. He told O’Donnell: “We have a pattern now of mass shootings in this country that has no parallel anywhere else in the world.” UPDATED 4:07 p.m. EST | According to the Associated Press, San Bernardino Police Sgt. Vicki Cervantes says “there are multiple casualties and there are some confirmed fatalities.” The Associated Press spoke to relatives of loved who were inside the building where the San Bernardino, California, shooting took place Wednesday. UPDATED 3:56 p.m. EST | Marybeth Feild, president and CEO of the Inland Regional Center, told the Associated Press that the shooting took place in a building that contained a library, conference center and usually housed at least 25 employees. She added that an unidentified, outside group rented the conference room Wednesday where the shooting took place. Police are still searching for one or more gunmen, the AP reports. UPDATED 3:33 p.m. EST | The Associated Press confirms that gunfire erupted at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California. Map by Reuters According to the Inland Regional Center Facebook page, the organization’s 670 staff members “provide services to more than 30,200 people with developmental disabilities and their families in San Bernardino and Riverside counties.” The AP reports that people were being “wheeled away on gurneys” while others “walked quickly from a building with their hands in the air and were searched by officers before being reunited with loved ones.” Agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Los Angeles Field Division have been dispatched to the scene. President Barack Obama has been briefed on the shooting by his homeland security adviser, Lisa Monaco, “and has asked to be kept informed as the situation develops,” the AP reports. Police officers secure the area after a shooting at a social services agency in San Bernardino, California, Wednesday. Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters UPDATED 3:14 p.m. EST | A Sheriff’s official told a local TV news station that one shooter was reportedly wearing body armor. A spokeswoman from Loma Linda Medical Center told CNN the hospital is expecting “an unknown number of patients.” The hospital is 2.6 miles away and has a trauma center. UPDATED 3:08 p.m. EST | The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department tweeted that there are one to three possible suspects in an active shooting situation taking place in San Bernardino, California. .@SanBernardinoPD has confirmed 1to3 possible suspects.Multiple victims. #SBCSD &other agencies assisting. More info to come. #SanBernardino — SB County Sheriff (@sbcountysheriff) December 2, 2015 As many as 20 people have been wounded, according to a tweet by the San Bernardino Fire Department Wednesday afternoon. https://twitter.com/SBCityFire/status/672131690978906112 San Bernardino Police Department Sgt. Vicki Cervantes told ABC7 that officers were responding to an “active shooter” at a social services facility. A local law enforcement spokesman told a local radio station that a bomb squad was being brought in to detonate “suspicious” packages. The Los Angeles Times reports that the shootings took place at a social services office on the 1300 block of Waterman Avenue, near Orange Show Road. Cindy Bachman of the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department said they received a call about an “active shooter” around 11 a.m. PST. San Bernardino is a city of 214,000 people about 60 miles east of Los Angeles. This is a developing story. The NewsHour will update as more information becomes available. Stephen Fee and William Brangham contributed to this report.