Two suspects in a mass shooting at a conference center in San Bernardino, California, have been fatally shot in a gunbattle with police. This is what we know at this hour.
The initial shooting:
- At least 14 people were killed and 17 were injured in the shooting, according to Police Chief Jarrod Burguan.
- Most of the victims were "Centrally located in one area of the facility," Burguan said.
- Authorities are working to determine whether a suspicious device found at the center is an explosive, San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon told CNN affiliate KABC.
-Police said the shooters fled in a black SUV-style vehicle.
The standoff:
-Information led police to a neighborhood near the conference center where they encountered the suspects.
-After a car chase, police exchanged gunfire with the suspects, a man and a woman, died at the scene.
-Police are approaching the suspects' SUV cautiously and are checking for explosive devices.
-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.
The suspects:
-One of the suspects was at the holiday event where the 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.
-The dead suspects had assault-style rifles and handguns, Burguan told reporters. They were dressed in what he called assault-style clothing.
In mass killings, multiple shooters extremely rare
The center:
-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.
-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.
California shooting scene: 'Pray for us' says a text Ref. CNN
Inland Regional Center Shootings (Hover)
Federal source: FBI probing San Bernardino shooter's possible link to radical ideology
As part of broad investigation that is exploring possible links to terrorism, federal authorities are reviewing Syed Farook's contacts with an undisclosed number of people whose suspected links to radical ideology have become known to the FBI, a federal law enforcement official said Thursday. The official, who is not authorized to comment publicly, said investigators are reviewing the suspects' online presence, including Farook's contacts with those known to the FBI and whether it involves the suspects' possible radicalization. Ref. USAToday
ISIS militants said the 2 people behind the San Bernardino massacre that killed 14 people were "Supporters" of the terror group. Ref. CNN
The madness has reached our shores. What is not clear about this is if it was specifically about ISIS or just some wackos with a message and a couple of them happened to be ISIS related.
International Level: Junior Politician / Political Participation: 87 8.7%
FBI: San Bernardino killers were 'radicalized,' no evidence of global plot
David Bowdich, FBI assistant director in charge of the investigation into the deadly rampage in San Bernardino, Calif., said authorities believe that both shooters were "Radicalized" but that so far there is no evidence that the killers were part of an international plot. Bowdich said there is evidence that the shooters - Syed Rizwan Farook, a restaurant inspector for county, and his wife, Tashfeen Malik - had practiced shooting at local ranges. Ref. USAToday
Reports: Former neighbor of San Bernardino shooters to be charged
Charges could be filed as soon as Thursday against Enrique Marquez, a friend of the San Bernardino couple whose shooting rampage two weeks ago left 14 people dead, according to multiple media reports. Investigators previously have said that Marquez purchased the semiautomatic rifles used by Farook and Tashfeen Malik, who were killed by police in a shootout within hours of the massacre Dec. 2 Ref. USAToday