At least 14 killed in S. California shooting

Two suspects, a male and a female, were dead and one possible suspect in custody after the deadly shooting that has killed at least 14 people and injured 17 others in San Bernardino City of Southern California Wednesday.

San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan told a press conference that police found a suspected explosive device in the Inland Regional Center building where the shooting happened at around 11:00 a.m. local time (1900 GMT). Police are still searching the building.

The two killed suspects were one male and one female. Both of them had rifles and handguns. Their dark SUV which they drove to flee was found several hours later in the afternoon by police and after a while of chasing they stopped and exchanged gunfire with police at a residential area several miles away from the shooting scene. Both were killed during the gunfire.

The Loma Linda Medical Center which received five adult injured victims of the shooting for treatment got a bomb threat in the afternoon, police said.

Briana Pastino, Public Information Officer of the hospital, said all of the five victims are remaining in the hospital. Two of them are in critical but stable condition, two others in fair condition and one is still being accessed.

Assistant Director of FBI David Boudich said that he is still not sure whether the shooting is a terrorist attack or not. More evidence needs to be put together.

One police officer suffered light injury during the action.

Police said the shooters were well prepared with long guns and wearing ski masks and possibly body armor. They burst into a conference room, which was rented by the San Bernardino Health Department for a banquet for its employees, and started shooting.

There were several hundred people inside the building when the shooting happened. Most of them walked out unhurt.

The identity and motivation of the shooter or shooters are still under investigation.

The non-profit center, which offers services to individuals with developmental disabilities, has about 670 employees and serves 3,000 families. The three-floor pink building was not far from the busy highway 10.

U.S. President Barack Obama was briefed about the shooting by Homeland Security officials. "We should never think that this is something that just happens in the ordinary course of events, because it doesn't happen with the same frequency in other countries," said Obama, who called for tighter gun control after a shooting in Colorado last Friday killed three people.
  Xinhua -china.org.cn
  3/12/15
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