Two suspects dead after killing 14 people in California

Two suspects dead after killing 14 people in California

A man and a woman suspected of taking part in a shooting that killed 14 people and wounded 17 at a Southern California social services agency on Wednesday died in a shootout with police hours later, authorities said.

The suspects fled the scene of the shooting in San Bernardino, about 60 miles (100 km) east of Los Angeles, and two people died a few hours later in a shootout when police confronted them in their getaway vehicle. One police officer was injured.

Bomb disposal technicians were examining a number of suspicious items left by the armed assailants at the Inland Regional Center, including one that was “believed to be a potentially explosive device.”

The shooting rampage at a holiday party on the campus of a an agency that serves the developmentally disabled marked the deadliest U.S. 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.

But the massacre differed from most other killing sprees in key ways, including the involvement of multiple people rather than a lone perpetrator. It also comes less than three weeks after the deadly attacks in Paris prompted tighter security at many public venues across the United States.

Authorities said they also detained an individual seen running away from the vehicle, but investigators were not immediately sure that person was involved in the case, Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said at a news conference.

Burguan said the two suspects who were killed were armed with assault rifles and handguns and were dressed in “assault-style” clothing.

The police chief said he knew of no possible motive for the attack.

NBC News reported one of the three suspects was identified by multiple sources as Syed Farook, but Reuters was not able to confirm that.

The Muslim advocacy group CAIR said it condemned the shooting and a relative of a suspect named in media reports will take part in an evening news conference.

A person by the name of Syed Farook was listed on county documents as an employee of the San Bernardino County Environmental Health Department. Staff members from that department had gathered on Wednesday for the party where the shooters opened fire.

The attack took place on the campus of the Inland Regional Center, in a building housing a conference center that was being used for the holiday celebration, authorities said.

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