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Summary
Here is what we now know as we await a news conference from investigators in just over an hour’s time. That will be covered live on our new blog here.
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The 14 people killed in an attack on a community center in San Bernardino, California, on Wednesday have been named.
- The two suspects in the attack who died after a car chase with police have also been identified as Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, andTashfeen Malik, 27.
- Police said Farook and Malik had amassed a huge arsenal, with thousands of rounds and a dozen improvised explosives, including a remote-controlled bomb left at the center. Their four guns were purchased legally.
- Investigators still do not know what motivated the couple, FBI agent David Bowdich said.
- The total number of wounded has risen from 17 to 21.
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Police said Malik arrived in the US on a fiancee visa in July 2014, later marrying Farook, who was American. Police said she had a Pakistani passport, and that the couple left their six-month-old daughter with Farook’s mother before the attack.
- Intelligence officials anonymously told the AP and CNN that Farook had made contact, through social media, with extremists under surveillance by the FBI.
Heartbreaking details from the San Bernardino Sun, who have spoken with the family of one of the victims, 46-year-old Benetta Bet-Badal.
Arlen Verdehyou was with his two sons and daughter this morning, waiting in their Rialto home for word on his wife, Bennetta Betbadal. He had not heard from her since they texted each other at 8 a.m. Wednesday. He was holding out hope, waiting for a call.
“I’m with my kids,” he said. “No news is good news.”
In their texts, Verdehyou told Betbadal, 46, that he had withdrawn money from the bank and would do some Christmas shopping. He told her to have a great day.
Betbadal, who is originally from Glendale, works for the county as a plan inspector for restaurants, giving restaurants their cleanliness grades that hang in their windows. She was attending the function at the Inland Regional Center when the shooting erupted.
“She decorated a beautiful Christmas tree,” he said.
You can read the whole piece here.
San Bernardino County sheriff's department has released the names of the deceased
They are:
Shannon Johnson, 45, Los Angeles (DOB: 03/06/70)
Bennetta Bet-Badal, 46, Rialto (DOB: 03/08/69)
Aurora Godoy, 26, San Jacinto (DOB: 02/01/89)
Isaac Amanios, 60, Fontana (DOB: 06/29/55)
Larry Kaufman, 42, Rialto (DOB: 08/12/73)
Harry Bowman, 46, Upland (DOB: 06/08/69)
Yvette Velasco, 27, Fontana (DOB: 04/03/88)
Sierra Clayborn, 27, Moreno Valley (DOB: 06/15/88)
Robert Adams, 40, Yucaipa (DOB: 05/02/75)
Nicholas Thalasinos, 52, Colton (DOB: 10/14/63)
Tin Nguyen, 31, Santa Ana (DOB: 04/06/84)
Juan Espinoza, 50, Highland (DOB: 06/24/65)
Damian Meins, 58, Riverside (DOB: 02/02/57)
Michael Wetzel, 37, Lake Arrowhead (DOB: 04/29/78)
In a statement, the sheriff’s office said that the Coroner Division completed their on scene investigation early this morning and then began the process of making notification to the families of each victim. At 3:30PM the family notifications were completed.
Sheriff John McMahon:
This shooting has caused each victims family, friends and co-workers, along with the first responders, to suffer an enormous personal tragedy. We must stand strong and offer support to each individual affected by this senseless attack.
Federal authorities have told NBC7 Los Angeles that the guns used in the attack were purchased legally.
Meredith Davis of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives told them that all four guns were bought four years ago but she’s not saying whether they were purchased out of state or how and when they got into the hands of the two shooters.
They are currently seeking the last legal purchaser, Davis said.
You can read the whole piece here.
CBS News has a photo purporting to be of some of the explosive devices found in the suspects’ home.
JUST IN: CBS News obtains images of #SanBernardino shooting suspects' explosive devices https://t.co/mTqWjtwFvP pic.twitter.com/r8RUya50mn
— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 3, 2015
One sheriff’s office in Ulster County, New York, about an hour north of New York City, is urging citizens who are licensed to carry firearms to make sure they do so in the wake of the San Bernardino shooting. Here is the message in full:
December 3, 2015
ATTENTION LICENSED HANDGUN OWNERS
In light of recent events that have occurred in the United States and around the world I want to encourage citizens of Ulster County who are licensed to carry a firearm to PLEASE DO SO.
I urge you to responsibly take advantage of your legal right to carry a firearm. To ensure the safety of yourself and others, make sure you are comfortable and proficient with your weapon, and knowledgeable of the laws in New York State with regards to carrying a weapon and when it is legal to use it.
I also want to remind all Police/Peace Officers both active duty and retired to please carry a weapon whenever you leave your house. We are the thin blue line that is entrusted in keeping this country safe, and we must be prepared to act at any given moment.
Thank you,
Paul J. Van Blarcum
Ulster County Sheriff
An update from the Guardian’s Ben Jacobs in Washington DC:
In a press conference outside the Republican Jewish Coalition’s forum in Washington DC, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum went after Ted Cruz in particular for his support of the USA Freedom Act.
Santorum suggested that it might have been a useful tool to thwart the San Bernardino shooters if the government’s surveillance power had not been allowed to been allowed to lapse.
“It’s hard for me at this point to know how much communication was going between the assailant and terrorists in any kind of ISIS context,” said Santorum. “Suffice it to say if there were some and because of the metadata collection we were not able to collect it that proves the point that we need to have all resources necessary. Particularly given what’s Snowden has done, unveiling sources and methods and allowing enemies to use alternate sources of communications.”
Summary
A summary as we continue our coverage of the investigation into Wednesday’s mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, that left 14 victims and two suspects dead.
- Police revealed that suspects Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik had amassed a huge arsenal, with thousands of rounds and a dozen improvised explosives, including a remote-controlled bomb left at the center.
- “Clearly they were equipped and could’ve continued to carry out another attack,” police chief Jarrod Burguan said of the suspects, who died in a shootout with police. Their four guns were purchased legally.
- Investigators still do not know what motivated the young couple, FBI agent David Bowdich said. “There was obviously a mission here, we know that.”
- Burguan increased the total number of wounded from 17 to 21, and said all the victims have been identified. Police promised to release their names Thursday evening, likely at an 8.30pm PT press conference. Mourners planned vigils in the San Bernardino area.
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Police said Malik arrived in the US on a fiancee visa in July 2014, later marrying the American Farook. Police said she had a Pakistani passport, and that the couple left their six-month-old daughter with Farook’s mother before the attack.
- Police have sent hard drives, thumb drives and other electronic information from the Redlands home to Washington for “expeditious analysis”. Intelligence officials anonymously told the AP and CNN that Farook had made contact, through social media, with extremists under surveillance by the FBI.
- Police have received varying reports about Farook’s behavior at the holiday party he attacked, which was hosted by the county health department where he worked. “Nobody gets upset at a party and puts together that kind of elaborate scheme or planning to do that,” Burguan said.
In Washington
- Two gun control measures failed in the Senate, with votes divided mostly on party lines.
- Democrat Dianne Feinstein proposed barring people on the no-fly list from purchasing guns, a vote that failed 45-54.
- Democrat Joe Manchin and Republican Pat Toomey proposed an expansion of background checks – a new version of a bill thwarted by filibuster in 2013. The measure failed 48-50.
- “We’re going to get to the bottom of this,” Barack Obama vowed, adding that the US needed to limit access to guns to people who have an intention to inflict harm on others: “right now it’s just too easy.”
Updated
Senate votes against new background checks
A second gun control measure, proposed by Democrat Joe Manchin and Republican Pat Toomey, is a new version of a 2013 bill to expand background checks – a bill that was thwarted by Republican filibuster despite widespread support after the Sandy Hook shooting.
Four Republicans voted for the measure on Thursday, and one abstained. One Democrat voted against the measure, and two abstained. The bill fails, with a final vote of 48-50.
Correction: Senate changes final tally on Mancin-Toomey gun background checks to 48-50 Heinrich (D) now votes YES. #gunviolence
— Lisa Mascaro (@LisaMascaro) December 3, 2015
Updated
Two wounded people remain in critical condition, a hospital official has told reporters outside the Loma Linda Medical Center.
Chief of Loma Linda Emergency Medicine says 2 shooting victims are critical, 2 fair, & 1 will be discharged today. pic.twitter.com/qGejv9GYha
— Denise Dador (@abc7denise) December 3, 2015
Senate votes against no-fly list gun ban
In Congress today the Senate voted on a measure to block suspected terrorists from buying guns – it failed, 45-54, divided mostly along party lines. The bill would bar gun sales to people on the terror/no-fly watchlist.
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, a Republican, spoke out against the bill earlier today, saying it would deprive Americans of their right to due process.
The Los Angeles Times’ Lisa Mascaro tweeted from Capitol Hill.
On the Feinstein #gunviolence vote, it was almost party line -- except: Kirk (R)- yes Heitkamp (D) - no
— Lisa Mascaro (@LisaMascaro) December 3, 2015
This is likely last of #gunviolence votes here in Senate for a while. No surprise, but so far none today have passed. #SanBernardino
— Lisa Mascaro (@LisaMascaro) December 3, 2015
Updated
Sergeant Vicki Cervantes, spokesperson for the San Bernardino police, has tweeted that the authorities will give an update on the investigation around 5.30pm Pacific time (8.30pm Eastern).
Next press conference #sanbernardino scheduled to occur between 5:30 & 5:40 on Waterman/ Park Center. Media approach from Hospitality Lane.
— Vicki Cervantes (@SBPDCervantes) December 3, 2015
Syed Farook was in contact on social media with extremists who are under FBI scrutiny, the AP reports, supporting an earlier CNN report.
Both cite intelligence officials speaking on condition of anonymity. From the AP:
The official would not further describe the contacts by Syed Rizwan Farook. He would not be quoted because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The official says investigators are still trying to determine whether and how he became radicalized and whether he was in contact with any foreign terrorist organization.
Farook and his wife rented a home in the city of Redlands, where they amassed a huge amount of ammunition and a dozen improvised explosives. They may have resided in another city south of San Bernardino, however, where press has gathered to interview neighbors or a member of the family.
Media gather & wait near the #SanBernardinoShooting suspect's home. pic.twitter.com/4QeC7WGH54
— Rachel*Luna (@Rache1Luna) December 3, 2015
Presidential candidates have already staked out positions on the San Bernardino shooting, with Republican Donald Trump saying the rampage looks like “radical Islamic terrorism” and Democrat Hillary Clinton calling for immediate gun control measures.
“I don’t believe we can stop every incident of gun violence but we can stop a lot of them,” said Clinton at a campaign event in New Hampshire. “We need to take action now.”
“It’s important to remember the vast majority of Muslim Americans are just as concerned and heartbroken about this as anyone else,” said Clinton.
“No matter what motivation these killers, these murderers had we can say one thing for certain: They should not have been able to do this.”
Clinton has called for a law to prohibit gun sales to people on the no-fly list and a repeal to the law that protects gun manufacturers and dealers from liability lawsuits.
“If you are too dangerous to fly in America, you are too dangerous to buy a gun,” she said.
Trump, the Republican frontrunner, told reporters outside a Washington hotel: “I think it was terrorism.
“It looks like another case. We’ve got a lot of bad things going on. Radical Islamic terrorism.”
Police, FBI investigators and the president have all declined to classify the shooting as terrorism or anything else, saying they simply do not yet know enough to deduce the shooters’ motives.
Trump attributed the growing number of mass shootings in the US to poor mental health services.
“It’s mental health, and it’s also really strength. We need strength. We have weak government,. We need strength. And I have to tell you, I think the police out there did a fantastic job and law enforcement.”
Updated
“Somebody said, ‘Hey, somebody is shooting firecrackers. That must be for our party,” a witness of the shooting has told local ABC7. “And then her friend fell to the floor.”
“They yelled down the hall and said, ‘There’s a shooting downstairs! There’s a shooting downstairs!’ Just heard like boom, boom shots but I didn’t really hear a gun fire, the gunshots go off, but it sounded more like a big, huge thump,” recalled Melinda Rivas, who was in the building when the shooting occurred.
“There were 47 of us. We squeezed in our conference room, barricaded the doors, locked the doors with all the furniture in the conference room, hid behind our conference table,” Rivas described.
The city of San Bernardino has planned vigils for the evening, including a program with the mayor at San Manuel Stadium.
Candlelight Vigil at 6:00 pm. Location: San Manuel Stadium. 280 South E Street. San Bernardino, CA 92401. Program to follow shortly. #MySB
— Mayor R. Carey Davis (@SBMayorDavis) December 3, 2015
Near the Farook family home in Riverside, south of San Bernardino, my colleague Tom Dart has interviewed a neighbor about the couple who killed 14 people on Wednesday.
A neighbour at the former Farook family home on a street of mostly modest single-storey homes in Riverside, a city south of San Bernardino, was incredulous that one of them could be a suspect in a massacre.
“It was them, for sure?” said the man, who refused to give his name. When the news broke, he said, “I never thought it [could be] them.”
He described the family, who no longer live there, as generally quiet - though recalled one time when the police were called to a domestic incident involving the suspect’s parents which, he said, prompted Farook’s father, also named Syed, to go to Pakistan for a while after his wife accused him of violent behaviour.
Court documents support the neighbor’s account, with Farook’s mother alleging that her husband – now her ex- – physically abused her, sometimes in front of their three children.
Summary
- Police chief Jarrod Burguan increased the total number of wounded from 17 to 21, in addition to the 14 people killed by two suspects at a community center in San Bernardino, California, on Wednesday.
- Dead suspects Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik had amassed a huge arsenal, he said, with thousands of rounds and a dozen improvised explosives, including a remote-controlled bomb left at the center.
- “Clearly they were equipped and could’ve continued to carry out another attack,” Burguan said of the suspects, who died in a shootout with police on Wednesday. Their four guns were purchased legally.
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FBI agent David Bowdich said investigators still do not know what motivated the young couple, who left their but were confident it was long-planned. “There was obviously a mission here, we know that.”
- Bowdich said that Malik arrived in the US on a fiancee visa in July 2014, later marrying the American Farook. Police said she had a Pakistani passport, and that the couple left their six-month-old daughter with Farook’s mother.
- Police have recovered hard drives, thumb drives and other electronic information from the Redlands home, some of which has been flown to Washington for “expeditious analysis”.
- Police have received varying reports about Farook’s behavior at the holiday party he attacked, which was hosted by the county health department where he worked. “Nobody gets upset at party and puts together that kind of elaborate scheme or planning to do that,” Burguan said.
- “We’re going to get to the bottom of this,” Barack Obama vowed, adding that the US needed to limit access to guns to people who have an intention to inflict harm on others: “right now it’s just too easy.”
- Police said they have identified all the victims and would release their names sometime in the afternoon or evening Pacific time, and mourners planned vigils in the San Bernardino area.
San Bernardino police spokesman Kevin Lacy has tweeted that the department will soon release the names of the 14 people killed in the community center.
All victims have been positively ID'd & we are notifying the last few families before the press release. Thx for your patience. (2/2)
— Kevin Lacy (@SBCSDklacy) December 3, 2015
Professional football player Nat Berhe has tweeted that one of his cousins was among the 14 people killed on Wednesday, identifying one of the first victims to the public.
“I’m so sick right now,” he tweeted.
The true terror is that this keeps happening. I still can't believe it. Take a moment to think of the families hurting right now.
— Nat Berhe (@NatBerhe) December 3, 2015
Police have announced a vigil for the victims.
A candle light vigil for the victims will be held at 6:00pm tonight at the San Manuel Stadium #SanBernardino
— SB County Sheriff (@sbcountysheriff) December 3, 2015
Syed Rizwan Farook seemed to have so much going for him, a coworker said he was “living the American dream”. My colleague Rory Carroll reports from San Bernardino with a profile of the suspect.
Young and fit with a good job, a new bride and a newborn baby, the 28-year-old environmental health specialist appeared to be putting down roots in San Bernardino.
He had no criminal record, no known ties to religious or political radicalism. Colleagues at the the San Bernardino County public health department said Farook was quiet and polite.
Pieces of the puzzle, indicating a possible hybrid of personal and ideological motives, began to emerge on Thursday.
Law enforcement sources told CNN that Farook, who was born in Illinois but had Pakistani heritage, was in touch with people being investigated by the FBI for international terrorism.
He visited Saudi Arabia for several weeks in 2013 on the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca that Muslims are required to take at least once in their lifetime. During the trip he met Tashfeen Malik, a native of Pakistan. Said to be a pharmacist, she reportedly came to the United States on a “fiancée visa” and became a lawful permanent resident.
Farook may have also had problems at work, police chief Jarrod Burguan said, citing accounts of an angry altercation at a holiday party on Wednesday.
The motives of anyone who plans a mass shooting are necessarily murky and complex. But the actions of a young couple who left their infant daughter with a relative hours before massacring 14 people seem more incomprehensible still.
In one of the most jarring details to emerge in the aftermath of the shooting, it is now known that the couple began their day by leaving their six-month-old daughter with Farook’s mother. She became worried when she heard reports about the shooting and tried to call the couple without success.
Farook’s brother-in-law, Farhan Khan, told reporters on Wednesday that he was utterly baffled at what had happened. “I have no idea why would he do that,” Khan said. “I am in shock myself.”
Farook, it emerged, had a passion for guns. In a badly spelled dating profile on the site iMilap.com published about six years ago he mentioned several hobbies, including shooting.
“Enjoy working on vintage and modern cars, read religios books, enjoy eating out sometimes travel and just hang out in back yard doing target pratice with younger sister and friends.”
Farook and his siblings – a brother and two sisters – also had a turbulent upbringing, court records show. In 2006 divorce filings their mother, Rafia, detailed a violent marital history, saying her husband of 24 years, also called Syed, was physically and verbally abusive.
Court filings in 2006 and 2008 allege that the children witnessed several violent episodes. On one occasion, Rafia wrote: “He was drunk and I was outside of my house and he pushed me towards my car and then choked me. He threw the TV on that day.”
Updated
Bernie Sanders, Vermont senator and Democratic candidate for president, has released a statement calling for “common-sense gun legislation” – including expanded background checks and a ban on assault-style weapons.
The San Bernardino shooting was the 355th mass shooting this year. Gun violence has reached epidemic levels in the United States. Over the past decade, 275,000 Americans have been killed by guns. …
We need to significantly expand and improve background checks. Who is arguing that people who should not have guns because of a criminal background, because of mental problems should not be able to purchase guns? Very few Americans disagree with that.
We need to renew the assault weapons ban. We need to end the sale of high capacity magazines.
We need to make gun trafficking a federal crime and give law enforcement the tools they need to get illegal guns off the streets.
We need to close the gun show loophole, as well as loopholes that allow gun purchasers to buy a gun after the waiting period expires without a completed background check.
We need to close loopholes that allow domestic abusers and stalkers to obtain guns.
We need to strengthen penalties for straw purchasers who buy guns from licensed dealers on behalf of someone prohibited from purchasing a gun.
Sanders also adds that the US needs “to greatly expand and improve our mental health capabilities”, rounding out the laundry list of reforms that gun control advocates have called for since 2012. Republicans have signaled they to want to reform mental health services, but Congress has yet to agree on a bill to confront the issue.
Updated
My colleague Rory Carroll is in San Bernardino, where her writes of a city beleaguered by poverty and gun crime and now plunged into the aftermath of a mass murder.
A day after the massacre parts of San Bernardino resembled a police state: hundreds of men in uniforms and guns, roads blocked off, businesses closed.
After a cold night it was another bright, sunlit morning but the city still struggled to absorb the tragedy. In homes and offices people watched their town on TV news, familiar landmarks now overrun with police and media, the president himself expressing sorrow at their loss.
In a rough city, poor and afflicted with crime, some residents did not initially think much of it when they heard the first shots. “Gunshots in San Bernardino are not really a big deal, you hear them at night,” said Veronica Esparta, 27, a nurse was having an early lunch near the Inland Regional Center. “But then I see cars and cars and cars, cops, swat teams, every type of car. That’s when I knew, oh, it’s not OK.”
The centre remained sealed off: forensic experts may spend days combing the vast complex, room by room, floor by floor.
Even before the shooting San Bernardino was not OK. It is part of inland California, a realm of poverty and dysfunction far removed from the wealth and swagger of Silicon Valley and coastal areas.
Once a thriving trading hub for the region, it has stumbled since the 1990s partly because the sate government whittled away its – and other cities’ – share of property taxes, vehicle licensing fees and other revenue sources.
Police briefing
- Police chief Jarrod Burguan increased the total number of wounded from 17 to 21, adding that authorities would disclose names for the 14 people killed after they had managed to notify family.
- Suspects Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik had amassed a huge arsenal, with thousands of rounds and a dozen improvised explosives, to go with their four firearms, police found at the Redlands house the couple rented. The guns were purchased legally, and the couple wore tactical but not bullet-proof vests. “Clearly they were equipped and could’ve continued to carry out another attack,” Burguan said.
- The suspects left a remote-controlled pipe bomb behind at the community center after their attack, the police chief said.
- FBI agent David Bowdich said investigators still do not know what motivated the attack, but were confident it was long-planned. “There was obviously a mission here, we know that.”
- Bowdich said that Malik arrived in the US on a fiancee visa in July 2014, later marrying the American Farook and having a child with him. Police said she had a Pakistani passport.
- Police have recovered hard drives, thumb drives and other electronic information from the Redlands home, some of which has been flown to Washington for “expeditious analysis”.
- Burguan said police had received varying reports about Farook’s behavior at a holiday party that he attacked. “Nobody gets upset at party and puts together that kind of elaborate scheme or planning to do that.”
- Police fired more than 350 rounds during Wednesday’s shootout with the suspects, Burguan said, and two officers suffered non-serious injuries.
Updated
Sheriff John McMahon says that nonessential county operations have been shut down for Thursday and Friday, “out of respect for the family and victims”
“Our staff is on 12-hour shifts and we’ve called folks in from their days off to identify the victims and help process the scene,” he says.
McMahon says his office will likely release the names in a press notice later in the day. With that he and the police chief conclude the briefing.
Police were led to the SUV with the suspects because Farook “had rented a vehicle that was similar to the suspect description we received,” Burguan tells reporters.
The police chief says that the delay in identifying victims at the community center is due to several obstacles at the scene. Fire sprinklers went off sometime during or after the shooting, slowing officers’ ability to clear the scene, and then they discovered explosive devices that needed to be removed.
Burguan says police did not reach the bodies in the conference center until around midnight. “We’ve been working throughout the night on that and we have been working on notifications.”
“We will release the names, hopefully of all 14 people today, as we make notifications” to relatives, he says.
He confirms that a third man, detained Wednesday during the manhunt for the suspects, has no relation to the Regional Center shooting, but was booked on an separate misdemeanor charge.
“There was obviously a mission here, we know that,” Bowdich says.
We do not know why. If this was the intended target, if there was something that triggered that, we just don’t know.
He says “we know there was travel,” alluding to reports that the suspects arrived from Saudi Arabia in July 2014. “She was not his wife at the time but she is now,” he says. “They then had a baby together.”
Malik was in the US on a KI visa, also known as the fiancé(e) visa, and was from Pakistan.
Updated
FBI official David Bowdich takes the microphone, saying that the agency will fly back some evidence to Washington for “expeditious analysis of that evidence”.
Digital media is incredibly important because we are trying to determine the motive. We do not know the motive and we [cannot] rule anything out.
It would be irresponsible of me and way too early for me to speculate on motive for why this occurred.
“Everybody knows San Bernardino has been hit pretty hard” by an economic downturn, Burguan says, but “this is a pretty resilient community.”
He says that the response of officers, medical crews and county officials was “nothing short of heroic”.
Asked about reports that Farook and Malik had a young infant, Burguan says: “I know that they had a six-month old child I don’t know where she is.”
“Both suspects were listed on the rental agreement for the property” for the Redlands house, he adds, but “I don’t know that we can definitively say that they were living there.”
He says that police were led to the house after witnesses identified Farook as an employee of the county agency, and that that tip led them also to the car and ultimate shootout with the suspects.
Police recovered not only explosives and ammunition from the Redlands house but “computer evidence, cellphones … thumb drives” and other electronic items. He can’t say what’s been found on those items yet.
“I want to be accurate as best as we can,” Burguan adds, warning that information may continue to change as the investigation develops.
Burguan says police “do not have any credible indication that there is an immediate threat” from another attack.
He says that they’ve heard varying accounts of what happened in the conference room before the suspects left, returned and began shooting. They’ve heard that Farook did not appear upset, that he went off somewhere, and that he had some kind of dispute.
Police still cannot pinpoint a motive, he says, but are confident the attack was pre-planned: “Nobody gets upset at party and puts together that kind of elaborate scheme or plannig to do that.”
“They sprayed the room with bullets I do not know whether there was on one person they particularly targeted.”
Reporters asks about the weapons and whether Farook had a criminal record:
“The two handguns were purchased by him, the rifles were not, but all four guns were legally purchased. There’s no criminal record that he had that we’re aware of.”
Police chief: suspects had bombs and arsenal
Burguan then describes the shootout between police and the suspects, as well as an huge amount of ammunition and explosive supplies at a house in Redlands.
After the shootout, police found 1,400 223 rounds and 200 9mm rounds, he says. Two police were injured with non-serious wounds. He says police fired 380 rounds, including by 14 of his own officers and a number from other departments. The suspects fired about 76 rounds.
One was wounded in the leg, and will likely be released soon. He’s in “good spirits”, Burguan says. Another deputy was also injured with some cuts to the leg, possibly from glass or shrapnel.
At the house in the Redlands, “the search that took place revealed that there were 12 pipe bomb type devices found in that house or in the garage of that house,” Burguan continues. “There were also hundreds of tools, many of which could be used to construct IEDs or pipe bombs.”
Another 2,000 9mm rounds found at the house, over 2,500 223 rounds, and there were several hundred 22 long rifle rounds that were found there.
“Clearly they were equipped and could’ve continued to carry out another attack.”
Updated
Police chief: 21 people wounded
Police chief Jarrod Burguan is giving an update, saying that the number of wounded victims has increased from 17 to 21 people. Fourteen people are confirmed dead.
He says police still do not know yet how many officers in total responded to the scene, and then describes new details of shooting.
“When they entered [they fired] somewhere between 65 and 75 rounds from their rifles at the scene. We did locate the one pipe bomb that was actually three pipe bombs combined, that had a remote control car[-style trigger]” that did not appear to work, he says.
Police also found four high-capacity 223 rifle magazines that were dropped by the suspects, he adds. “We can confirm that the suspects were wearing the black-style tactical gear … They were not wearing ballistic, bulletproof vests … They did have tactical style vests that held magazines and ammunition and that kind of stuff.”
Updated
Summary
What we know ahead of a police briefing scheduled for 9.30am PST (12pm ET, 5pm GMT), in which federal officials and San Bernardino police chief Jarrod Burguan will give an update about the state of the investigation.
- Investigators do not know what motivated the murder of 14 people at the Inland Regional Center, a community center in San Bernardino, California, on Wednesday, in the worst mass shooting in the US since 2012.
- Two suspects in the attack were killed in a dramatic car chase and gunfight with police on Wednesday, after officers shot out the suspects’ SUV. They were named as Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Malik, 27.
- Two wounded victims are in critical condition and three are “fair”, a hospital official said. Seventeen people in all were injured during the shooting, and authorities have not named any victims.
- The FBI do not yet know whether the attack was “workplace related” or “terrorist related”, Barack Obama said. Farook worked for the county agency whose holiday party he and Malik attacked.
- “We’re going to get to the bottom of this,” Obama vowed, adding that lawmakers needed to do more to limit access to assault-style weapons. “When individuals decide they want to do somebody harm [we need] to make it a little harder for them to do it. Because right now it’s just too easy.”
- FBI agents are still searching a house in Redlands, south-east of San Bernardino, which was linked to Farook. Malik was his partner or wife, and the couple dropped off their six-month-old daughter with Farook’s mother in nearby Redlands, California, before the attack, according to the LA Times.
- The two suspects were armed with assault rifles and handguns, and were dressed in dark clothing “loaded with magazines for a gunfight”, police said. Multiple explosive devices were also found at the community center.
- Farhan Khan, Farook’s brother-in-law, said he had “absolutely no idea” why his relative would have carried out the massacre. Police said that Farook had a dispute of some kind at the holiday party before the shooting.
- Our latest news story on the unfolding events in San Bernardino is here.
Former representative Gabrielle Giffords, herself the victim of a mass shooting, has released an emotional statement with her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, about the San Bernardino shooting.
They released the statement through their pro-gun control Super Pac, Americans for Responsible Solutions.
It seems like every week we sit down together to find the words to adequately express our heartbreak for another community that has been shattered by gun violence.
We always fail to find the words to match our anger, heartache, and disgust. … Today, once again, America mourns those taken from us by gun violence.
Giffords and Kelly then single out the United States as a nation where “unimaginable” horrors happen too often.
As a country and a people, we must reckon with the fact that these types of gun tragedies simply don’t happen as often in other countries. Other countries have evil people. Other countries have violent people.
But our country stands nearly alone in the rate of people murdered with guns.
America is an extraordinary place. But these tragedies make us stand out in the worst of ways. This is not the America we strive for. We have to do better. And we can.
They conclude with a call for Americans to move Congress to action – and a condemnation of lawmakers: “in all of the time that has passed since Newtown, Congress has managed to do what many of us would have thought unthinkable: nothing at all.”
There have been 1,051 mass shootings in the past 1,066 days, according to the crowd-sourced site Shooting Tracker.
Yesterday, Barack Obama commented on the San Bernardino shooting by saying: “We have a pattern now of mass shootings in this country that has no parallel anywhere else in the world.”
The Guardian’s interactive team has tallied up each of these mass shootings – the location, date and number of victims – since a gunman killed 26 people in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, beginning a trend of increasingly deadly shootings around the US.
At the conclusion of Obama’s statement, the White House released an order to fly the American flag at half-staff at all public buildings, grounds, military basses and embassies, in honor of the victims of the San Bernardino shooting.
Obama: mass shootings are 'too easy'
The president now broadens his appeal to action, saying that Americans should not “feel as if there’s nothing we can do”.
“We just can’t leave it to our professionals [in law enforcement] to deal with the problems of these kinds of horrible killings,” he says.
I do think that as the investigation goes forward it’s going to be important for all of us, including our legislatures, to see what we can do. … So that when individuals decide they want to do somebody harm to make it a little harder for them to do it. Because right now it’s just too easy.
He says that new actions and legislation would make it “not impossible, but harder for individuals to get access to guns.”
Obama also adds that he spoke with the mayor of San Bernardino, Corey Davis, this morning, and thanked him and law enforcement. Attorney General Loretta Lynch will provide an update on the investigation later today.
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Obama: suspects' motive unknown
President Barack Obama is giving a statement from the Oval Office, pledging to reporters in a closed session that investigators will find out what motivated the attack.
At this stage we do not yet know why this terrible event occurred. We do know that the two individuals who were killed were equipped with weapons and appeared to have access to additional weaponry at their homes.
But we don’t know why they did it. We don’t know at this point the extent of their plans we do not know their motivations. And I just received a briefing from FBI director Comey as well as AG Lynch indicating the course of their investigation.
It is possible that this was terrorist related but we don’t know. It’s also possible that this was workplace related. And until the FBI’s been able to conduct what will be a large number of interviews, until we understand what the workplace relationship between the individuals and his superiors, because he worked with the organization where this terrible shooting took place, until all the social media and electronic information has been [sorted].
“We’re going to get to the bottom of this,” he promises. “And we’re going to be vigilant as we always are about getting the facts for the issue.”
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Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has said that he too is frustrated by inaction in Congress, but he refuses to budge on gun control, insisting that the problem goes to a question of mental health.
“We have to make sure that in our rush to do something we don’t violate a person’s individual rights in this country,” Ryan told CBS.
“Some [gun control] proposals here do violate people’s rights,” he said, using as an example of the proposal to ban gun purchases for people on the no-fly list.
“We’re going to violate a person’s rights without giving them any due process,” Ryan said of the proposal. He said that it would be difficult to stop “a law abiding citizen who is exercising their rights who all of a sudden snapped or something like that.”
“In a free society you’re going to have problems, the question is in a free society, are there gaps in the laws?”
Ryan said that he would be pushing a mental health reform bill that would increase barriers for some people to purchase guns.
Unnamed law enforcement sources have said that all four guns used by the suspects of Wednesday’s shooting were purchased legally.
JUST IN: All 4 guns used in #SanBernardino shooting were purchased legally and 2 were purchased by the shooters, law enforcement sources say
— ABC News (@ABC) December 3, 2015
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At the Loma Linda Medical Center, where many of the 17 wounded were taken yesterday, a hospital official is providing an update.
Two patients are in critical condition, three are “fair”, the CEO, Kerry Heinrich, says. “All of the patients are gunshot wound victims.”
He says he cannot give much information about the condition of the victims, out of respect to their privacy. “I’ll leave it for the patients themselves to communicate their stories.”
“All of the family members are struggling in their own way, in their own method. Some of the family members are dealing with loved ones who have very, very serious injuries.”
Heinrich praises hospital staff, saying that they had to work to save lives “called in [a] bomb threat to the institution”.
“You never know whether it’s credible or not so our practice and our policy is to always take those matters seriously.”
He adds that the hospital was shaken by the scope of the shooting and the subsequent lockdown and terror. “There’s nothing you can really do to prepare for the emotional trauma of an event like yesterday,” he says. “The shock and the stress is evident all around the Inland Empire.”
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The mayor of the city where the two suspects died in a shootout with police has released a statement
Mayor Paul Foster and the City of Redlands wish to express our sincere condolences to the injured victims and to the families and friends of those killed in the tragic shooting in the City of San Bernardino. We are proud of the work done by our first responders in the Redlands Police and Fire Departments and those from our neighboring agencies. Our prayers are with each and every one of you.
San Bernardino mayor Carey Davis said on Thursday morning that he has no information yet as to whether the shooting’s motive was related to the suspect’s work or ideological thinking.
He did however made an emphatic statement about whether he would support any new gun control measures.
“It’s not the gun that kills,” Davis said. “It’s the shooter that kills.”
Summary
As our coverage continues, here’s a summary of where things stand:
- Local authorities were expected to deliver an update Thursday morning on a mass shooting Wednesday at a community center in San Bernardino, California, in which 14 people were killed and 17 injured.
- Two suspects in the attack died Wednesday after a car chase with police. They were named as Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Malik, 27.
- A motive in the attack, which authorities described as pre-planned, had not been pinpointed.
- The pair were a couple who dropped off their six-month-old daughter with Farook’s mother in nearby Redlands, California, before the attack, according to the LA Times.
- “Whatever the results of this investigation... one thing is clear: violence like this has no place in this country,” US attorney general Loretta Lynch said.
- Farook attended a holiday party at the community center, which included a facility for treating people with developmental disabilities, before leaving and returning with guns, accompanied by Malik, according to multiple reports.
- A third person who was detained close to the shootout has not been identified and it is not certain the person was involved in the attack.
- FBI agents were still searching a house in Redlands, south-east of San Bernardino, which was linked to Farook.
Simultaneous to a statement by the attorney general describing an inconclusive investigation into the shootings, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz, a senator from Texas, draws a conclusion.
The San Bernardino shootings underscore that “we are at [sic] a time of war,” Cruz has said in an address at the Republican Jewish Coalition forum, according to Reuters, which adds the line:
Cruz, who remains behind in the polls, said the attacks prove the country needs “a war-time president to defend” the nation.
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US attorney general Loretta Lynch is addressing the media on various topics including the San Bernardino shootings.
“Whatever the results of this investigation... one thing is clear: violence like this has no place in this country,” Lynch said, according to Reuters. She confirms that local authorities will provide an update on the investigation.
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Local CBS News interviews a man who describes working in an adjacent building to the community center when the mass shooting happened:
I went out to the conference room to look to see what’s going on, and there was actually people running, screaming, crying. At that time I realized that it may have been something bigger.”
Witness Timmy Hilliard saw people "running, screaming, crying" from IRC building: https://t.co/Vh0gpf8cAr https://t.co/y09lhDzzIm
— CBSN (@CBSNLive) December 3, 2015
Police will hold a news conference later this morning, a sergeant with the local San Bernardino force tweets:
@SanBernardinoPD @SBPDChief Press conference planned to occur at Waterman / Vanderbilt in SB this morning regarding yesterdays shooting.
— Vicki Cervantes (@SBPDCervantes) December 3, 2015
The New York Daily News uses Thursday’s cover to rebuke Republican politicians who invoked prayer in their reactions to the shootings:
This will come up today at work ... so let's hear it. What do you think? #NYDailyNews pic.twitter.com/1PKGAW1Woe
— Cal Perry (@calmsnbc) December 3, 2015
The county sheriff and local police department tweet messages of thanks. The FBI is investigating on the federal level.
In the wake of this tragedy, as a unified command we thank everyone for the outpouring of support #SanBernardino @SanBernardinoPD
— SB County Sheriff (@sbcountysheriff) December 3, 2015
Great cooperation from all our law enforcement partners today. Thank you to everyone. Thanks to the community as well!
— San Bernardino PD (@SanBernardinoPD) December 3, 2015
Local Los Angeles-area broadcast outlets are adding incremental updates from the scene, where a KNBC anchor reports that the suspects’ black SUV remains on the street where it was stopped by police, and a local crime reporter says a coroner remains at the crime scene at the community center.
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The office of Republican presidential hopeful, Donald Trump, has tweeted that his poll ratings increase after mass shootings.
"@DLake66675: @ChateauEmissary @trumpettes16 @realDonaldTrump his poll numbers jump every time instances like this occur.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 3, 2015
Congratulations on the GREAT job done by POLICE and law enforcement on the California shootings. Give credit where credit is due.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 3, 2015
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Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American–Islamic Relations in the LA area, who has been in touch with Farook’s family says they are as puzzled as the police by the motive for the mass shooting.
Interviewed on CNN he said: “We don’t know the motives. The family is devastated, like all Americans. This is the time for us to express solidarity among all of us Americans in rejecting whatever the motives might have been. There is absolutely no justification for such horrendous behaviour.”
He said that the Farook family “had no clue that this could happen.” He added: “The suspect is married, has a six month old baby. They have no reason [about] what made him snap. Was it workplace related? Is it mental illness? Is it some twisted ideology? It is really unknown to us. All they [the family] can do share with everybody sorrow and prayers.”
San Bernardino resident Joko Manullang has shared mobile phone footage purporting to show the shootout in his Redlands neighbourhood, on Facebook. The video, which cannot be independently verified, shows several police cars arriving at a neighbouring home as multiple shots ring out.
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Here’s how the San Bernardino County local paper, the Sun, treated the story:
Here's a look at today's front page: pic.twitter.com/cp6oetZlXV
— The Sun (@sbsun) December 3, 2015
Denise Peraza, one of those injured in the shooting recalled her ordeal to friends, according to the LA Times. She said two men dressed all in black wearing black face masks entered with “big ‘ol guns” and started shooting randomly. Police later said they were confident a man and a woman were the only ones responsible for the killings. Peraza said:
“Everyone dropped to the floor. It was during a holiday party. The guys opened fire for 30 seconds, randomly, then paused to reload and began firing again.”
Peraza was hiding under a desk when she was shot once in the lower back. She said after the shooters left everything was silent for about five minutes, before the police arrived. She added that injured victims were then helped into the beds of pickup trucks and taken to a safer location.
FBI agents are still searching a house in Redlands, south-east of San Bernardino, which is reportedly connected to at least one of the suspects.
Officers in bomb suits have been filmed searching a car outside an apartment connected to Farook, the dead chief suspect.
Officers in bomb suits just broke into a car and searched it outside apt connected to Farook. #SanBernardinoShooting pic.twitter.com/Nz3jnsS9gO
— Kenny Holmes (@KHOLMESlive) December 3, 2015
Earlier, San Bernardino police chief, Jarrod Burguan, said officers were working with caution in Redlands and the centre that was the target of the shooting because of the possibility of explosive devices.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations has uploaded video of a press conference in which Muslim leaders urged Americans not to blame Islam for the shooting.
“Please do not implicate Islam or Muslims,” said Muzammil Siddiqi, religious director of The Islamic Society of Orange County, told the start of the press conference. “Our faith is against this kind of behaviour.”
Reuters has pieced together what is known about the dead suspects.
Syed Rizwan Farook
The 28-year-old who was born in the United States, worked as an environmental health specialist for San Bernardino County, inspecting restaurants for health violations, according to authorities and a website that tracks public employees.
As part of his job, he also inspected public pools at locations including apartment and senior housing complexes and country clubs. Records show him performing these duties as recently as July.
On Wednesday, he attended the annual holiday gathering for employees of his department, but then left, returning later with weaponry and Malik.
SueAnn Chapman, a cashier and waitress at China Doll Fast Food, a restaurant that Syed Farook inspected earlier this year for his job with the county, said he didn’t seem unusual when he turned up.
“He was real quiet,” Chapman said. “He checked the food and said he was here because somebody complained. ... He looked completely normal.”
Farook’s family was originally from South Asia. He had an older brother who had served in the US military.
Public records suggest possible turbulence in Farook’s younger life.
In 2006, Rafia Farook, who records indicate is Farook’s mother, filed in a Riverside court for divorce from her husband, also named Syed Farook.
She enumerated multiple instances of domestic abuse in the legal filing, and said her husband “threatens to kill himself on a daily basis.” During one incident, she said in a court filing, her son came between them “to save me.
Tashfeen Malik
The 27-year-old was believed to be from Pakistan and had lived in Saudi Arabia before coming to the United States.
She is is said to have married Farook two years ago, although the exact status of the relationship is unclear. The couple had a six-month-old baby girl, according to Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
The couple left the baby with Farook’s mother in the nearby city of Redlands early on Wednesday morning. They told her they were going to attend a doctor’s appointment for the wife, Ayloush said.
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At least two images of the dead suspect Syed Farook have been published.
Picture of the shooting suspect Syed Farook pic.twitter.com/Tf9qXZ0C9U
— Rob McMillan (@abc7robmcmillan) December 3, 2015
Who are Syed Rezwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik - the #SanBernadino shooters? (5 min read) https://t.co/6qDFQAVLa2 pic.twitter.com/i2HZgt5YPI
— Saeed Ahmed (@saeed_ahmed) December 3, 2015
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Rory Carroll and Yvette Cabrera in San Bernardino, and Paul Lewis in San Francisco recount what we know about how the shooting unfolded. Here’s an excerpt:
Police were already acting on a tip, and within the hour would descend on a property registered to Farook in the nearby city of Redlands, about 5 miles (8km) away from the Inland Regional Center.
For the second time that day, Farook and Malik escaped in their black SUV. They were heading back into San Bernadino, and towards the building complex where they killed more than a dozen people hours earlier.
For a few tense minutes, the vehicle sped through San Bernadino’s palm-tree lined streets, with police in pursuit – and live TV helicopters hovering overhead.
The suspects’ vehicle stopped in a hail of gunfire less than 2 miles from the Inland Regional Center. Some witnesses described hearing explosions and what appeared to be “thousands of rounds”. Burguan would later describe the actions of his officers as “flat-out heroic”.
When TV cameras zoomed in to capture the aftermath, they showed a bullet-riddled SUV with shot-out windows wedged between two armored police vehicles.
At least one of the suspects appeared to be lying on the ground beside a pool of blood. The other was still inside the SUV. Farook and Malik were dressed in the assault-style clothing worn by the attackers who stormed the office party four hours earlier.
Police detained a third potential suspect on a nearby street, but as of late Tuesday, had still had not determined whether the man was involved in the attack.
Burguan and other police and FBI officials said they were trying to piece together how the attack had unfolded – and why.
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Staff from San Bernardino coroner’s office have begun an investigation at the scene of the shooting. The identities of the victims will be released after the next of kin have been informed, spokesman Kevin Lacy tweeted.
But, please remember, we won't be releasing any of that until we have notified families. They deserve to hear from us first. (2/2)
— Kevin Lacy (@SBCSDklacy) December 3, 2015
Couple left baby daughter with her grandmother
The two dead suspects, Syed Farook and his partner Tashfeen Malik, dropped off their six-month-old daughter with Farook’s mother in Redlands, according to the LA Times, citing Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Los Angeles office.
The grandmother grew worried when she heard of the shooting attack in San Bernardino, and “she started calling. No answer,” Ayloush said.
Farook was born in Illinois, and his parents immigrated to the US from south-east Asia, Ayloush said.
Farook had left a party at his work with fellow public health employees of San Bernardino county. Police said he was angry and left early only to return with his partner. Both were heavily armed.
To repeat, police and Farook’s family are puzzled by the motive for the shooting.
San Bernardino police chief Jarrod Burguan said: “We do not have a motive.” He told the media the shooters had entered the center “as if on a mission”, adding: “They came in with a purpose ... We have no information to indicate that this is terrorism in the traditional sense.”
Updated
This maps shows the key locations in the shooting and its aftermath.
Police officers led more than 40 people in the Inland Regional Center to safety, according to footage obtained by KPCC radio.
“I’ll take a bullet before you do, that’s for damn sure,” one of the officers is heard to say.
He then shouts to an unseen colleague: “If you’re not cool, I’m not walking them.”
People in the building are heard thanking the officer. At least one of those being led to safety was a child.
Updated
A recording has emerged purporting to be of police radio as the shootout unfolded.
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What we know so far
Welcome to our continuing coverage of the aftermath of a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, which left 14 people dead, including two named suspects.
You can follow how events unfolded until now in our previous live blog. Claire Phipps rounds up what we know so far:
- 14 people have been killed and 17 injured in a mass shooting at the Inland Regional Center, a community center for people with disabilities.
- The two attackers were named as Syed Rizwan Farook, a 28-year-old man, and Tashfeen Malik, a 27-year-old woman. Police said they were in a relationship and possibly married.
- Both suspects were killed after engaging in a shootout with police while fleeing in a dark-coloured SUV.
- The two suspects were armed with assault rifles and handguns, and were dressed in dark clothing “loaded with magazines for a gunfight”.
- A third person who was detained close to the shootout has not been identified and it is not certain he was involved in the attack.
- Police chief Jarrod Burguan said “there had to be some degree of planning in this” and multiple explosive devices have been found at the Inland Regional Center.
- Farook, an employee of the environmental health team, was involved in a dispute at a Christmas party being held at the center on Wednesday morning, and left before returning to open fire, police said.
- Farhan Khan, Farook’s brother-in-law, said he had “absolutely no idea” why his relative would have carried out the massacre.
- An FBI official, David Bowdich, said it was too early to class this as an act of terrorism. “I am still not willing to say if we know that for sure … It is a possibility but we don’t know that yet and we’re not willing to go down that road yet.”
- FBI agents are still searching a house in Redlands, south-east of San Bernardino, which is connected to Farook.
Our latest news story on the unfolding events in San Bernardino is here.
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