At least 14 dead in California mass shooting

The armed couple who were suspected of killing 14 people in a mass shooting in California and were later slain in a shootout with police were identified by authorities on Wednesday as Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Malik, 27, described as a possibly married or engaged.

Mr Burguan, who said another 17 people were wounded, said police were “reasonably confident” that there were just two shooters.

One police officer was injured in the gunfight with the two suspects, who were confronted in their getaway vehicle after fleeing the scene of the shooting in San Bernardino, about 60 miles (100 km) east of Los Angeles, according to police.

Investigators have not dismissed terrorism as a possible motive. “We have not ruled out terrorism”.

Some US Senators are saying enough is enough with mass shootings in America, and are calling for gun reform.

On Wednesday, he attended the annual holiday gathering for employees of his department, but left after an apparent dispute, returning later with Malik dressed in assault clothing and armed with long rifles.

The sheriff’s department tweeted that there was an “active shooter in the area of Orange Show Rd/Waterman Ave near Park Center”. It’s believed the two were in a relationship.

“Based upon how they were equipped, there had to be some degree of planning that went into this”, he said. They were also said to have been wearing tactical gear. Spokeswoman Heather Woolwine said the hospital’s security is always vigilant, but shootings like the one in California cause them to re-examine safety protocols and procedures.

There was no immediate information on the identity of the victims.

Hours later, police hunting for the attackers riddled a black SUV with gunfire several miles away, and one person lay motionless in the street – dead or dying – with a gun nearby. Farook’s brother-in-law, Farhan Khan, said he had no clue what prompted the carnage. “I think anytime an event like this happens, it gives everyone pause”, she said. A SWAT team eventually rescued his wife and two other co-workers.

The Associated Press reported that Farook and Malik left their six-month-old baby with Farook’s grandmother Wednesday morning.

The shooting rampage marked the deadliest US gun violence since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012, in which 27 people, including the gunman, were killed. “I’m far away. I couldn’t do anything for her”.

The local San Bernardino newspaper The Sun identified one of the victims as Jennifer Stevens who underwent surgery for a gunshot wound to the abdomen and was expected to recover. Khan said he had last spoken to Farook a week ago, and that he had “no idea why would he do that, why he would do something like this”.

“The one thing we do know is that we have a pattern now of mass shootings in this country that has no parallel anywhere else in the world, and there’s some steps we could take, not to eliminate every one of these mass shootings, but to improve the odds that they don’t happen as frequently”, Obama said.

Initial reports suggest multiple perpetrators were involved in the mass shooting.

In October, a gunman killed his English professor and eight others at a community college in OR, and in August, a television reporter and cameraman were fatally ambushed by a former employee of their Roanoke, Virginia, television station while they were interviewing a woman on live TV. “He was not involved in the shooting”, according to Heavy.com. The facility is part of the California Department of Developmental Services, and serves people with developmental disabilities.