A man shoots dead 23 people in a restaurant and then kills himself. And Tashfeen Malik, 27 – who is either Farook’s wife or his girlfriend.
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He says up to three shooters entered the building and opened fire at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino.
That was their first brazen act. The level of attention speaks to something much more meticulously planned.
A gunman shoots dead 13 people at a civic center for immigrants. A robot was being used to determine whether explosives might be inside the residence. He returned. And, along with Malik, he went into the building and began firing.
A text message landed in Terry Pettit’s phone from his daughter, who was inside Inland Regional.
Lead Pastor Sherman Dumas said he was in a staff meeting when he heard about the shooting. “Pray for us. I am locked in an office”.
Denise Peraza, 27, was shot once. She called him but never got a response. “When she exited the building, she said there were multiple bodies on the floor”, Aguilera told CNN.
“There’s maybe like 150 cops going toward Hospitality Lane”, she said, as sirens echoed in the background. “So I just don’t understand why somebody would come in and start shooting”.
Peraza survived. She is in a hospital and is expected to recover.
Obama also called for legal changes that would prevent such shooting incidents in the future.
“We stood there for hours, hours witnessing clothing of deceased ones on the street, people crying, co-workers crying, us wanting to get to our children”. They cleared buildings and through speaking to witnesses, built up a picture of the deadly trio, who had fled in a black SUV after the rampage.
Officers also searched a home several miles away in Redlands.
A police vehicle took up pursuit, as the SUV raced back in the direction of San Bernardino.
– Covina, California, December 24, 2008: A man dressed in a Santa Claus suit opens fire at a family party and then sets fire to the house. When the SUV came to a halt, it was riddled with bullet holes.
Officials with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), who have been in touch with the family, said the couple were married two years ago and have a six-month-old baby girl.
“They came prepared to do what they did, as if they were on a mission”, Burguan said.
One police officer was injured in the shootout, but his wounds are not life-threatening. “We have that person detained”. Police described Malik as Farook’s wife or fiancee.
“There are 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”.
Several US media identified one of the suspects as Syed Farook, who lived in the apartment complex.
Two. 223 caliber rifles were in the vehicle with them, along with two pistols. Hours later, they died in a shootout with police.
Burguan said Farook had attended the Christmas party organized by the health department and left after an apparent dispute, only to return a short time later with Malik, armed with assault rifles and semiautomatic handguns. That person isn’t believed to have anything to do with the shootings, the official said. He said they were believed to be the only shooters involved in an attack that required some degree of planning.
Back at Inland Regional, there was still danger to be dealt with – three explosives the pair had left behind.
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Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms spokeswoman Meredith Davis said the thick-gauge copper pipe was equipped with a piece of material made to look like a wick but was not a bomb. Police secured them and remotely detonated them.
