Emergency, ATF, police and fire crews are responding to a report of a multiple-victim shooting on Wednesday, authorities said. At least 14 people were killed and 17 more wounded. Police said one suspect was “down.”
Within hours, officers were pointing guns at an SUV with shattered windows on a residential street. It was unclear if the incidents were related. Police said shots were fired, an officer-involve
Other suspects could still be at large.
The shooters used long guns and “came prepared,” San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said during a press conference. Police were initially looking for three suspects, who were reportedly dressed in black.
There is an active scene unfolding in San Bernardino. Preliminary info is a suspect is down, officers are ok. Not confirmed if related.
— San Bernardino County Sheriff (@sbcountysheriff) December 2, 2015
Three people entered the building and began shooting.
— SB County Sheriff (@sbcountysheriff) December 2, 2015
The incident happened at the Inland Regional Center. According to their Facebook page, the Inland Regional Center serves individuals with developmental disabilities in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Police were searching room by room for victims.
Earlier, the county sheriff tweeted that the San Bernardino Police Department “has confirmed 1 to 3 possible suspects. Multiple victims.”
Police are now searching for an SUV that fled the scene, according to the LA Times citing federal law enforcement sources. The source said that at least three suspected shooters fled the building after the gunfire.
A man whose his wife worked in the building told KABC-TV that at least one gunman walked into the center and opened fire, the LA Times reported. She was able to lock herself in her office. “They saw bodies on the floor,” he said. https://youtu.be/Sn1Q6nFAcCU
Terry Petit said he got a text from his daughter saying she was hiding after gunfire erupted at the social services facility in Southern California where she works. Petit choked back tears Wednesday as he read the texts for reporters outside the Inland Regional Center. He says she wrote: “People shot. In the office waiting for cops. Pray for us. I am locked in an office.” Police searched people filing out of a building with their hands up before they reunited with loved ones. Ambulances and law enforcement vehicles are racing through the area with sirens blaring.
A police spokeswoman told the LA Times that the suspects were heavily armed and possibly wearing body armor. Several law enforcement agencies converged on the scene, and triage units were being set up in the area. Some people were seen being wheeled away on gurneys, and others filed out of a building with their hands up. A spokeswoman from nearby Loma Linda Medical Center said the hospital was expecting patients momentarily. “We’re all kind of on standby right now – it could be any minute,” spokeswoman Briana Pastorino said.
SBFD units responding to reports of 20 victim shooting incident in 1300 block of S. Waterman. SBPD is working to clear the scene. — San Bernardino Fire (@SBCityFire) December 2, 2015
The incident was reported in the 1300 block of South Waterman Avenue, the Fire Department tweeted shortly before 11:15 a.m.
The shooting in California comes less than a week after a gunman killed three people and wounded nine in a shooting rampage at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs. In October, a gunman killed nine people at a college in Oregon and in June a white gunman killed nine black churchgoers in South Carolina.
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