Police ID couple suspected in mass shooting

UPDATE: Police have identified the two dead suspects in a California mass shooting as a couple in their 20s who dropped off their baby at a relative’s house before committing mass murder. Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Malik, 27, died in a shootout with police after attacking Farook’s co-workers at a party in San Bernardino, Calif., Wednesday. Fourteen people were killed and 17 others injured.

Farook worked as a restaurant inspector for the San Bernardino County Health Department. He was born in the United States, San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said. Burguan did not know where Malik was from.

Witnesses said Farook went to the celebration, held at the Inlands Regional Center in San Bernardino on Wednesday morning, but left suddenly. He returned with Malik, both armed and wearing tactical gear. A third suspect was detained Wednesday, but Burguan said that person’s connection to the shooting was unclear.

“Right now, as we continue to drill down our information, it looks like we have two shooters,” Burguan said. “We are comfortable that the two shooters that went into the building are the two shooters that are deceased.”

The pair must have planned the assault in advance, Burguan noted.

“Based upon what we have seen and how they were equipped, there had to be some degree of planning that went into this,” Burguan said. “I don’t think they grabbed the guns and tactical gear on a spur-of-the-moment thing.”

Hussam Ayloush with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) confirmed that the couple left their 6-month-old child with relatives before the shooting. At a CAIR press conference, a relative of Farook’s expressed shock.

“I just cannot express how sad I am for what happened today,” said Farhan Khan, who is married to Farook’s sister.

UPDATE (12:20 a.m.): Not long after law enforcement sources named Syed Farook as one of the suspects in the mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) held a press conference with one of his relatives to respond to the violence.

“Why would he do something like this? I have absolutely no idea,” said Farhan Khan, who is married to Farook’s sister. Khan said he last spoke with Farook about a week ago.

Records from the county health department listed a Syed Farook as an environmental health specialist there, the Los Angeles Times reported. The health department was hosting a banquet Wednesday in a conference area where the shooting began. A former health department employee told the Times she remembered Farook attending a departmental holiday party at the same location last year.

Hussam Ayloush, the executive director of CAIR in Los Angeles, said the organization unequivocally condemned the violence and “any possible ideology or mindset that could lead to it.” No one at the press conference would comment on Farook’s religious beliefs. They only said that the violence he was accused of committing did not reflect their own values and faith.

Authorities have said they are looking at several possible motives for the shooting, including workplace rage and terrorism.

UPDATE (Dec. 2, 11 p.m.): Anxious loved ones are still waiting to hear from some employees at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, Calif., where gunmen massacred 14 people earlier today. The center has about 600 employees and provides social services for 30,000 people with developmental disabilities.

“These are all disabled kids, very disabled,” said Sherry Esquerra, who was searching for her daughter and son-in-law, both of whom work at the center. “She gets all the services she possibly could for these kids. So I just don't understand why somebody would come in and start shooting.”

The attackers opened fire a conference area where the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health was hosting a banquet, said Marybeth Field, president and CEO of the center. Witnesses reported seeing one to three gunmen. Ten people were hospitalized in critical condition and three in serious condition after the shooting. People who were not harmed in the shooting were taken by bus to a nearby community center.

UPDATE (Dec. 2, 8:54 p.m.): San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan confirmed at a news conference this evening that two suspects in today’s shooting at a Southern California social services facility are now dead. The two suspects, one male and one female, were traveling in a black SUV and died in a shootout with police. Burguan said both were wearing “assault-style clothing” and were armed with assault rifles and handguns.

A third suspect may still be at large. A man running from the scene of the late-afternoon gun battle was apprehended, but Burguan said it was not known whether the man has any involvement with shooting earlier today.

Burguan also said that authorities found what they believe is an explosive device at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino and that bomb squads were working on it.

At the same news conference, David Bowdich of the FBI said “terrorism” has not been ruled out as a motive in today’s attack. “It is a possibility, but I‘m not ready to go down that road yet,” he told reporters.

Police are also serving a search warrant on a home in Redlands, Calif.

City spokesman Carl Baker said Redlands police are assisting San Bernardino police in the search connected to today’s shooting.

An Associated Press reporter watched as a half-dozen vehicles carrying helmeted police drove into the area. One officer carrying an assault rifle ordered reporters to clear the area, and an armored vehicle parked outside a row of homes.

UPDATE (Dec. 2, 8:31 p.m.): Hours after a deadly shooting at a social services facility in Southern California a suspect has been shot in a gun battle with officers.

Police hunting for the attackers riddled a black SUV with gunfire several miles away from the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, with local news helicopter video images showing one person lying motionless in the street—dead or dying—with a gun nearby. Officers appeared to remove a second person from the vehicle.

San Bernardino police Sgt. Vicki Cervantes said there is still possibly a suspect “outstanding.”

Cervantes would not elaborate but added that an officer was hurt in the shootout and went to the hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.

As darkness fell, law officers swarmed a neighborhood about a mile from the SUV, apparently in a hunt for a possible third gunman.

Today’s mass shooting was the nation's deadliest since the Newtown, Conn., attack in December 2012 that left 26 children and adults dead.

UPDATE (Dec. 2, 7:10 p.m.): Officers have cornered a dark SUV that appears to be riddled with bullet holes on a residential street in San Bernardino, Calif. A standoff is ongoing with the occupants, who might be the suspects in a mass shooting attack on a social services facility. Police said a suspect was down and another is at large.

San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said today‘s attackers carried long guns and “came prepared to do what they did, as if they were on a mission.”

UPDATE (Dec. 2, 5:10 p.m.): Police estimate at least 14 people died today and dozens more were injured when up to three gunmen entered the Inland Regional Center and opened fire. The suspects reportedly fled in a dark-colored SUV.

At least 10 people were taken to area hospitals for treatment. Police have closed off roads in around the center and are searching for the suspects.

UPDATE (Dec. 2, 4:20 p.m.): Police have confirmed multiple fatalities in today’s shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., but did not have specific numbers of those killed and injured. They also believe they are looking for multiple suspects who might be clad in military-style attire.

The search is focusing on a building at the center that includes a conference room rented by a private group for the day, according to an employee at the Inland Regional Center. The building also includes offices for about 25 staff members. The center’s developmentally disabled clients also would have been in the building.

OUR EARLIER REPORT (Dec. 2, 3:30 p.m.): Police in San Bernardino, Calif., are searching for a suspect who opened fire at the Inland Regional Center, a social services facility that serves the developmentally disabled, at about 11:30 a.m. PST.

Initial reports indicate multiple victims, but few details are available. People who gathered near the scene reported seeing as many as 150 police officers flooding the area.

One worker at the facility who was trapped inside, texted her father and asked for prayers: “People shot. In the office waiting for cops. Pray for us. I am locked in an office.” Terry Petit choked back tears as he read his daughter’s message to reporters.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.