At least 14 killed in Southern California mass shooting, 2 suspects dead

At least 14 people are dead after a shooting in San Bernardino, California — about 60 miles east of Los Angeles.

The shooting happened at the Inland Regional Center, a county agency that provides services to the disabled.

San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan told reporters that at least 14 people are dead and 17 more were injured in the shooting, which police responded to at about 11 a.m. local time, according to emergency officials.

"They came prepared to do what they did as if they were on a mission. They came in with a purpose," Burguan added, noting that the shooters were armed with long guns rather than hand guns. "They came in with the intent to do something."

One of the three suspects has been identified as Syed R. Farook, the LA Times reported, citing two law enforcement sources. The Associated Press has also cited law enforcement sourcesidentifying Farook as a suspect.

According to the LA Times report, an exchange was "overheard on a law enforcement radio channel" in which an official could be heard telling a dispatcher Farook "was at the meeting" at the Inland Regional Center and "was acting nervous" then "left out of the blue," minutes before gunfire began.

AP Photo/Damian DovarganesAuthorities search an area near where police stopped a suspected vehicle in San Bernardino, Calif., Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015, following a shooting that killed multiple people at a social services center for the disabled.

Hours after the massacre, Burguan said that police received a tip related to the shooting that led officers to a home in the city of Redlands, just south of San Bernardino. As police were setting up to watch that home, a dark-colored SUV was seen leaving the residence, Burguan said.

The suspects' vehicle had been described as a dark-colored SUV.

A police chase began and ended in a shootout involving San Bernardino Police. A dark-colored Ford Expedition could be seen in the street, windows shattered, less than 2 miles from the scene of the mass shooting.

KNBC via APArmored vehicles surround an SUV following a shootout in San Bernardino, California, December 2.

Two suspects — one male and one female — were killed in that shootout with police, according to investigators.

A third person who ran away from that scene has been detained, according to David Bowdich with the FBI's Los Angeles bureau. It wasn't clear whether that person was involved.

Both of the dead suspects were armed with "assault-style weapons" and handguns, law enforcement officials report.

One police officer who was shot suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

AP Photo/Chris CarlsonAuthorities search for a suspect following a shooting that killed multiple people at a social-services facility December 2 in San Bernardino, California.

The Press Enterprise reported that a bomb threat was called in to Loma Linda University Medical Center, where medical personnel were treating the wounded on Wednesday afternoon. Investigators later determined that that threat was not credible.

A representative for the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said that the agency was investigating at least one possible pipe bomb at the Inland Regional Center. Police officials said at a news conference that hundreds of people were in the building at the time of the shooting there.

REUTERS/Alex GallardoPolice officer and his canine walk the perimeter at the scene of the active shooting in San Bernardino, California, December 2.

Most of the victims, Burguan said, "were centrally located in one area of the facility."

"They [Inland Regional Center] had an event today, and during that event is when multiple shooters came in and just started shooting," Sgt. Vicki Cervantes, a San Bernardino Police Department spokeswoman, told ABC 7.

The event was a county-personnel banquet, Inland Regional's executive director, Lavinia Johnson, told CNN.

The center has 670 employees, according to its Facebook page. San Bernardino is roughly 60 miles east of Los Angeles. Here is a map of the area:

Reuters

Police reportedly entered the center and evacuated the building room by room, according to CNN.

People who were in areas nearby, including a golf course, were on lockdown for a time, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Corroborating witness statements and citing police, the LA Times reported that the suspects were heavily armed and possibly wearing body armor.

A spokeswoman for the Loma Linda University Medical Center said it received five adult patients. Two were in critical but stable condition, one was in fair condition, and another was being evaluated.

REUTERS/Mario AnzuoniPolice officers transport bystanders from the area after at least one person opened fire at a social-services agency in San Bernardino, California, December 2.

Marcos Aguilera, whose wife was reportedly in the building when the shooting started, told ABC 7 that his wife saw emergency officials taking people out of the building on stretchers.

"They locked themselves in her office," he said. "They seen bodies on the floor."

The LA Times interviewed an unnamed man whose relative works at the Inland Regional Center.

"It was a pretty horrifying phone call to get from a family member that is hiding in an office because there is an active shooting taking place," the man said. "This is wrong. Why would they target an agency that deals with helping handicapped people?"

People who were near a shooting rampage at a social-services center that killed multiple people and wounded others arrive at a community center to reunite with their family members in San Bernardino, California, December 2.

In a statement, California Gov. Jerry Brown said: "California will spare no effort in bringing these killers to justice."

US President Barack Obama was briefed on the shooting by US Homeland Security Adviser Lisa Monaco, later telling CBS that "We should never think that this is something that just happens."

This post will be updated as more information comes in.