As many as three gunmen believed to be wearing military-style gear opened fire Wednesday at a Southern California social services center, killing at least 14 people and wounding more than a dozen others, authorities said.
FBI agents and other law enforcement authorities converged on the center and were searching room-to-room for the shooter or shooters, San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said. The suspects might have fled in dark SUV, he said.
"They came prepared to do what they did, as if they were on a mission," Burguan said, noting the shooters carried long guns, not handguns. Police shed no light on a motive.
"Is this a terrorist incident? We do not know," said David Bowdich, the assistant director of the FBI's Los Angeles field office.
Witnesses said several people locked themselves in their offices, desperately waiting to be rescued by police, after gunfire erupted at the Inland Regional Center, which serves people with developmental disabilities.
The attack took place in a conference area where the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health was holding a banquet, said Maybeth Field, president and CEO of the social services center. She said the building houses at least 25 employees as well as a library and conference center.
A person who was inside the building also told The Los Angeles Times that the shooting may have happened during a holiday party, but declined to be identified or comment further.
No weapons were recovered at the center, though authorities were investigating unidentified items in the building and have brought in bomb squads, Burguan said at a news conference.
He noted the number of people killed and wounded were preliminary estimates that could change. He said the wounded have significant injuries that might be related to gunshots.
San Bernardino police spokesman Sgt. Vicki Cervantes told The Associated Press there were reports from witnesses of between one and three shooters.
As the manhunt went on, stores, office buildings and at least one school were locked down in the city of 214,000 people about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, and roads were blocked off.
President Barack Obama was briefed on the attack by his homeland security adviser.
Triage units were set up outside the center, and people were seen being wheeled away on stretchers. Others walked quickly from a building with their hands up. They were searched by police before being reunited with loved ones.
Terry Petit said his daughter works at the center, and he got a text from her saying she was hiding in the building after hearing gunshots. Petit choked back tears as he read the texts for reporters outside the center. He said she wrote: "People shot. In the office waiting for cops. Pray for us. I am locked in an office."
Marcos Aguilera's wife was in the building when the gunfire erupted. He said a shooter entered the building next to his wife's office and opened fire.
"They locked themselves in her office. They seen bodies on the floor," Aguilera told KABC-TV, adding that his wife was able to get out of the building unharmed.
Loma Linda University Medical Center received four patients in its trauma center and expected three more, spokeswoman Briana Pastorino said. She did not know their conditions.
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