SAN BERNARDINO, California — Two suspects in the mass shooting that killed 14 people at a center for people with developmental disabilities were fatally shot in a gun battle with police hours after the initial incident.
The suspects — a man and a woman — had assault-style rifles and handguns, San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan told reporters. They were dressed in what he called assault style clothing.
A third person was detained close to the scene of the shootout, but it is possible he is not connected to the shootings, Burguan said.
Earlier police said they were hunting as many as three suspects, who had fled in a black SUV.
The residential area not far from where the shooting at the Inland Regional Center occurred was flooded with law enforcement following a chase that ended with police and the suspects exchanging gunfire.
Meanwhile, authorities finished clearing the three buildings on the property and examining the conference center where the initial shootings occurred.
[Latest developments, posted at 9:45 p.m. ET]
• An FBI raid was underway Wednesday night at an apartment in Redlands where authorities are serving a search warrant linked to the shooting at Inland Regional Center.
• One of the suspects was at the holiday event where the initial shooting took place, a law enforcement official told CNN. There was a dispute at the event and the man left, the official said. It’s believed he returned with two other suspects, the official added.
Burguan confirmed there was a dispute at an event at Inland Regional Center. Someone left the event after the dispute, he said, but it was unclear whether that person was later involved in the shooting. “There was some type of dispute or something when somebody left that party. But we have no idea if those were the people who came back,” Burguan said.
• Five people were transported to Loma Linda University Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Briana Pastorino said. Two of the patients were in critical condition, two were in fair condition and one person was being assessed. Arrowhead Regional Medical Center said one patient had been discharged and five were still getting treatment.
• Marcos Aguilera received a text from his wife who works at the Inland Regional Center.
“She heard the shots and crying,” he said. The situation became confusing when the fire alarm went off. “Everyone was confused,” he said, relating his wife’s account. A SWAT team eventually rescued his wife and two other co-workers. “When she exited the building, she said there were multiple bodies on the floor,” Aguilera told CNN.
• Burguan described the suspects as “people that came prepared. … They were armed with long guns, not hand guns,” he told reporters. Two pistols and two AR-15-style firearms were recovered from the shootout scene, a law enforcement official said.
• Most of the victims at the site of the initial shooting were “centrally located in one area of the facility,” Burguan said. Police didn’t exchange gunfire with the shooters, he added.
• “I know one of the big questions that will come up repeatedly is ‘Is this terrorism?’ I’m still not willing to say that we know that for sure. We are definitely making some movements that it is a possibility,” David Bowdich, an assistant director for Los Angeles FBI’s office told reporters.
• The shootings were in the conference center at the Inland Regional Center, the center’s executive director, Lavinia Johnson, told CNN. She believes the county’s Department of Public Health was having a holiday party there.
• President Barack Obama restated 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
• Wednesday’s shooting occurred at the Inland Regional Center, a facility for people with developmental disabilities. It is unclear how many people were at the facility at the time of the shooting.
The center’s Facebook page says it employs nearly 670 people at its facilities in San Bernardino and Riverside counties, providing service to more than 30,200 people.
It aims to “work on a personal, one-on-one basis with people with developmental disabilities to make their lives better as they define it.” No information is yet available on how many people were at the facility at the time of the shooting.
• San Bernardino is a city of just over 200,000 people 60 miles east of Los Angeles. It’s the 17th largest city in California, and the mayor is R. Carey Davis.
The center’s Facebook page says it employs nearly 670 people at its facilities in San Bernardino and Riverside counties, providing service to more than 30,200 people.
It aims to “work on a personal, one-on-one basis with people with developmental disabilities to make their lives better as they define it.” No information is yet available on how many people were at the facility at the time of the shooting.
• San Bernardino is a city of just over 200,000 people 60 miles east of Los Angeles. It’s the 17th largest city in California, and the mayor is R. Carey Davis.
