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Firsthand Account of Inside of Conference Center; Officials: Gunman Apparently Radicalized; Police Find Smashed Cell Phones Near Crime Scene; Minute-By-Minute Police Response to California Shooting; Web of Questions Facing Mass Shooting Investigation; Inside Locked- Down Hospital Treating Shooting Victims; GOP Candidates Talk Mass Shooting; Physicians: Gun Violence a Public Health Issue Needing Research; Obama Honors Shooting Victims. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired December 04, 2015 - 02:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[02:00:14] ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and thank you for joining us. It is 11:00 p.m. on the U.S. west coast. I'm Isha Sesay, in Los Angeles.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everybody. I'm John Vause, in San Bernardino, California. We'd like to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. You're watching our continuing coverage of a mass shooting at this California conference center.

Investigators are trying to figure out if this shooting was an act of terrorism, a workplace dispute, or somehow if it was both. And we're hearing a chilling account from one of the first police officers on the scene of Wednesday's massacre.

But first, there are indications that the gunman, Syed Rezwan Farook, was radicalized and he was in contact with people under investigation for terrorism. Smashed cell phones and a missing computer hard drive suggest he and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, tried to cover their tracks. Both were killed in a shootout with police.

SESAY: And the county coroner has released the names of the 14 people killed in the shooting. And, John, as you well know, the majority being county officials. They work for the county, the majority of them, as among the injured.

And we're getting a firsthand account of what it was like inside that center. Police say Farook and Malik fired between 65 and 75 rounds. Most of those killed and wounded were health department employees, coworkers of Farook.

Police Officer Madden was on his way to lunch when he got the call about the shooting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. MIKE MADDEN, SAN BERNARDINO POLICE DEPARTMENT: As we entered the conference room, the situation was surreal. It was something that I don't think we prepare for and in active shooter, we talk about sensory overload and try to throw everything at you to try to prepare you for that, what you're seeing, what you're smelling, and it was all of that and more. It was unspeakable, the carnage that we were seeing, the number of people who were injured and, unfortunately, already dead, and the pure panic on the face of those individuals still in need and needing to be safe.

JERRY BROWN, (D), CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR: When it comes to people who engage in these types of vicious brutal acts will spare at nothing at bringing them to justice and protecting the people along the way. So, I don't know what this means going forward, but I think we have to be on our guard. We can't take anything for granted. And I want to assure my fellow citizens in California that we're going to go just as far as we have to make sure that public safety is protected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: The evidence seems to be mounting that these two attackers had been planning something like this for quite some time and had terrorist ties as well.

Jim Sciutto has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Signs the deadly California rampage could be tied to terrorism. Investigators searching for a motive have found evidence shooting suspect, Syed Rezwan Farook, had been radicalized and in contact with known terror suspects overseas.

(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)

UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Large armed response here.

SCIUTTO: However, they have not determined definitively whether those extremist beliefs or other workplace grievances, or possibly both caused this.

DAVID BOWDICH, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, FBI, LOS ANGELES OFFICE: There was obviously a mission here. We know that. We don't know if this was the intended target or if he planned on doing this immediately. We just don't know.

SCIUTTO: The shooters, Syed Rezwan Farook, a 28-year-old U.S. citizen, and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, a 27-year-old U.S. permanent resident, were not previously known to the FBI and were not on a list of potentially radicalized people. However, law enforcement officials say Farook was in contact by phone and social media with international terrorism subjects under investigation, but they were not considered high priority.

Investigators are also examining Farook's travel to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia --

(CHANTING)

SCIUTTO: -- where it's believed Farook met his wife, Malik, during the annual pilgrimage, the Hajj.

Malik, who was born in Pakistan, eventually came to the U.S. on a K-1, or fiance, visa, before obtaining a green card.

Farook's brother in law says he is stunned by Wednesday's bloodshed.

FARHAN KHAN, BROTHER IN LAW OF FAROOK: I have no idea why he would do that, why would he do something like this. I have absolutely no idea. I'm in shock myself.

SCIUTTO: Police are now working at the couples' home to determine how they were managed to amass an enormous arsenal, two assault rifles and two semi-automatic handguns, more than 6,000 rounds ammunition and high-capacity magazines. Police also found what they described as a bomb lab in their home, with a dozen improvised pipe bombs in addition to three others rigged to a remote-control car left unexploded at the scene, signs that a bigger plot could have been in the works.

JARROD BURGUAN, CHIEF, SAN BERNARDINO POLICE DEPARTMENT: Nobody just gets upset at a party, goes home and puts together that kind of an elaborate scheme or plan to come back and do that, so there was some planning that went into this.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[02:05:30] VAUSE: Our thanks to Jim Sciutto for that report.

And investigators have found electronics they believe belong to the suspects, including a computer, without a hard drive in it, which they hope will give them some answers.

CNN's justice correspondent, even Perez, has those details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Investigators have recovered two smashed cell phones. This may be a sign, investigators believe, that the two shooters were trying to hide their tracks and make it difficult for investigators to figure out who they were communicating with in the days leading up to Wednesday's massacre.

Their two cell phones were recovered from a garbage can near one of the three crime scenes. Now the work for FBI technicians is to try to recover information from the cell phones as well as from computers found at it the home of the two shooters. Investigators hope that this information could offer some indication of what the motive might have been behind Wednesday's shooting.

Even Perez, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: So much work still to be done.

But, John, we're hearing from more people who knew Syed Rezwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik. One of them speaking out is a man who shared a cubical with Farook at

work. As CNN's Kyung Lah reports, that colleague's story is quite chilling.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(SIRENS)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just minutes before the killers opened fire on the holiday party, Patrick Baccari left the use the bathroom when the attack started.

PATRICK BACCARI, CONFERENCE ATTENDEE: I thought somebody booby trapped the towel dispenser because I was being pummeled while I was pulling the towels out of the dispenser. I looked in the mirror. I could see I was bleeding at my temple, my nose.

LAH: Baccari hid in the bathroom while Syed Rezwan Farook and his wife fired off 76 rounds killing 14 people.

Farook and Baccari shared a cubicle for three years at the San Bernardino County Health Department. They talked about cars, Farook's 6-month-old daughter, regular chat between two coworkers.

(on camera): Why do you think he did this?

BACCARI: Well, I think his beliefs were contrary to our American dreams. You think that somebody that's working to the capacity and educated to the level that you are has similar respect and values.

LAH (voice-over): Law enforcement sources tell CNN that Farook was apparently radicalized and in touch with people being investigated by the FBI, talking by phone and on social media with more than one person being investigated for terrorism.

But a law enforcement source says the talks were infrequent. The last one was a few months ago, not raising any alarms. No red flags either say U.S. and Saudi government officials in 2013 when Farook went to Saudi Arabia. The FBI says the 28-year-old had also traveled to Pakistan.

(SIRENS)

LAH: The couple's landlord, who rented the apartment they would later fill with weapons and bomb-making material, saw no sign this was coming.

DOYLE MILIAN (ph), LANDLORD OF SHOOTERS: It's beyond my comprehension, because he seemed like such a gentle, mild person. You just can't tell a book by its cover.

LAH: Farook's brother-in-law didn't know.

FARHAN KHAN, BROTHER-IN-LAW OF FAROOK: I have no idea. Why would he do that? Why would he do something like this? I have absolutely no idea. I am in shock myself. LAH: A sentiment echoed by Patrick Baccari.

BACCARI: Who wants to call their 16-year-old kid to tell them that you just survived an attack? Many people that didn't that we love, so --

LAH: Baccari says the multiple bullet fragments in his body will stay, too risky to remove.

What also remains, confusion that the man he so closely knew did this, now turning to anger and fear.

BACCARI: I believe every citizen here should be armed to defend themselves in the case of this happening. But that's not everybody else's belief. I couldn't have defended anybody from the position I was in, even if I was armed. But at least if they tried to come in and get us in that restroom, I would have had some way of maybe protecting the rest of us.

LAH (on camera): We could not find anything as far as a criminal background on Farook. But there are some court documents from a 2008 divorce between the parents that suggests that he had a turbulent childhood. His mother filed a temporary restraining order. In court documents, she described her husband, Farook's father, as being violent, mentally ill at times, often not on his meds, and frequently saying he would commit suicide. She also described him as being violent, throwing once a TV on her -- John?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[02:10:08] Kyung, thank you for that.

Let's go now to CNN's Paul Vercammen. He joins us now live.

Paul, what we're hearing is from one of the police officers who was the first on the scene and his account of what he saw when he got there.

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, and it's fascinating. This is Lieutenant Mike Madden, 24-year veteran from San Bernardino. He was simply off on his lunch break when he heard this call of mass casualties. Of course, they were all fearful there were multiple gunman still active inside and described at first what struck him, and it was the smell. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MADDEN: When we entered there was fresh gun powder and the smell of gun powder in the air, leading me to believe there was -- there were in fact shooters still.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: And then scary moments for Madden. He describes that sprinklers, fire sprinklers were going off. Fire alarms were going off. He could hear the wailing, the crying out of the injured. Many people in a hallway that, when he first approached them, they were doubtful he was a law enforcement officer. Maybe he was dressed to portray himself of one of the attackers. But he said once he convinced the first of these terrible frightened people that he was, indeed, a police officer, they followed him out in a flood to safety, John. Harrowing moments in there. Just scary beyond belief for Madden and others who first arrived.

VAUSE: Lieutenant Madden also talked about how difficult it was to not attend to the wounded because they had to secure the scene because there was an active shooter, that he had to walk past all of these people who had been wounded. And we're learning that and many of the people who were shot, many of the people who were wounded had a direct connection to Farook, the shooter.

VERCAMMEN: That's absolutely true. Statistically, you can find that out. This started out as a training exercise for county health employees and then transitioned to the holiday or Christmas party. Of 14 killed, 12 worked for the county. Of the 21 injured, 18 worked for the county. No doubt Farook worked alongside many of them. And as these two narratives come together, he was at once upset with some of his coworkers and, on the other side, all these indications that he was radicalized, that he was perpetrating a massacre for perhaps religiously zealous reasons. They, coming together. And it might be that both of them were very much at play in the mind of Farook.

VAUSE: And now 14 people are dead and 21 injured, and some of those remain in a critical condition right now.

Paul, thank you for being with us. We appreciate it.

Of course, the answer to that question of radicalization is one which authorities are looking into. If Farook was, in fact, radicalized, anyone close to him say, at least publicly, they knew nothing about it. They managed to hide it from those who were closest to them, both Farook and his wife.

SESAY: Yeah. Many questions to be asked to really flesh that out.

Earlier, I spoke to former FBI agent, Bobby Chicon, about whether he thought the shooters were radicalized of if the attack a hybrid attack of workplace revenge and terror.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOBBY CHICON, FORMER FBI AGENT: Clearly, there was some dispute at the party. That's clear. Clearly, obviously, he went back to the party and did this act. So, it doesn't take a stretch to think something happened at the party to make him go back there. Whether it was planned to go back there or whether it was just something that set him off to go back there, that is yet to be determined. But clearly, there was an antagonism when he left the party. That's being described by witnesses. And then he obviously went back and took this violent action. So workplace violence? Sure, by the very definition of the words. It's workplace violence. These are coworkers of his. He visited violence upon them. The terrorism aspect also is obviously coming into play and that's being run out. So, I think there is something -- some credibility to this hybrid.

SESAY: But it's clearly, and this is the thing, given what they found in the home of Farook and Malik, the amount of weaponry and ammunition, it clearly points to something bigger, does it not? I mean, do you think that this --

CHICON: Absolutely.

SESAY: -- was the original target?

CHICON: Absolutely, something bigger and maybe something additional. What's to be determined is whether or not there was another initial target planned and this was just an opportunity because of antagonism at the workplace and then go to hit that first and go to the secondary target, which at that point was their initial target before they went to the workplace, or whether they were going to do a secondary attack. But clearly, there was more planned because of the amount of weapons, ammunition and devices that they had. It was much more than would be needed for this particular attack.

[02:15:06] SESAY: And because of that, what you mentioned, the weaponry, the ammunition, the devices, does that say to you or suggest to you that other people could have been involved because of the quantity?

CHICON: Yes, it does to me both by the purchasing of all the materials that would be needed to build these, the building of them themselves, and I think we had some initial reports that there were other gentlemen being seen coming and going from that resident in the past. Witnesses in the neighborhood said they saw other people coming and going. This doesn't sound like an activity that was hidden in the house. So, if you were in the house, you knew there were IEDs were being built and there were ammunition and guns around. And I think by the very nature of the amount of -- and the type of activity that was taking place in that house and the fact that gentleman were seen coming and going from there that others could have been involved in the planning and maybe the execution of this and that they're obviously still out there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Former FBI agent, Bobby Chicon, speaking to me a short time ago.

Still ahead on CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles, we remember the victims of Thursday's massacre, including a woman who fled Islam to the U.S. in fear of her life.

We'll be right back.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE RILEY, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: I'm Kate Riley, with your CNN "World Sport" headline.

Federal prosecutors in the United States announced criminal charges against 16 more FIFA officials on Thursday, alleging they were part of a 24-year scheme to enrich themselves while overseeing the world governing body of football. The 92-count indictment released by the Department of Justice in Washington came hours after the arrest of two FIFA vice presidents in Zurich. In May, 14 executives with ties to FIFA were accused of taking bribes, taking more than $150 million. A U.S. official calls the FIFA corruption problem one of the most complex worldwide financial investigations ever conducted.

Elsewhere, Oscar Pistorius has been found guilty of murder after a South African appeals court overturned an earlier not guilty verdict. The former Olympic athlete shot his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, to death in February, 2013. Pistorius is currently under house arrest after spending one year of his original five-year sentence in jail. He'll be resentenced at a later date.

And Rio Madrid might be in trouble after serving an ineligible player on Wednesday in their Coverdale rain match against Cadiz. Their opponents have filed a former appeal after Danny played for Royal but should have been suspended. Spanish media reports that a decision is likely to be due on Friday,

And that's a look at all your sports headlines. I'm Kate Riley.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWS NOW. Hello, I'm Natalie Allen.

Germany will vote in a few hours on whether it will expand its role in the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Lawmakers are expected to vote in favor so the German military will not be conducting its own air strikes. It has a support role in the U.S.-led coalition.

European intelligence suggests ISIS's next target might be the United Kingdom. A counter-terrorism official tells CNN it's not clear how imminent the threat is, nor the specific location. That source also said concerns of an attack have been compounded by Britain's decisions to bomb ISIS strongholds in Syria.

Two men have been arrested in Belgium in association with the Paris terror attacks. But the search for one, this man, has gone cold. Salah Abdeslam is believed to be the eighth attacker. A senior count- terrorism official says European security agencies have had no trace of him since he was dropped off in Brussels, November 14th, the day after the attacks.

India's southern state of Timalniju (ph) is in near disaster. Almost 270 people have died as a result of massive flooding since October. After seeing the destruction firsthand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is now announcing an additional $150 million in relief to the worst affected areas.

16 more FIFA officials face charges in the U.S. in connection with the corruption scandal involving football's world governing body. Federal prosecutors say the officials were part of a more than two-decade long bribery scheme. Two football presidents from Central and South America are among those facing charges.

That is your CNN NEWS NOW. I'm Natalie Allen. Continuing coverage on the mass shooting in California is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:20:23] SESAY: Hello, and thank you for joining us. I'm Isha Sesay, in Los Angeles.

VAUSE: And I'm John Vause, live in San Bernardino, California. You're watching CNN's continuing coverage of that mass shooting here at a California conference center.

A lot of the investigators here say they believe the shooters may have had bigger plans before they were killed by police. They say they found a large stash of weapons and explosions in the home and the rented SUV of Syed Rezwan Farook and his wife. Law enforcement is also examining two smashed cell phones recovered from a garbage can near one of the crime scenes and they found a computer with a missing hard drive as well.

Authorities also say Farook was apparently radicalized but they're not ready to say that was his only motive. There may have been workplace grievances as well. He worked with the victims and was attending their holiday party.

Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik caused a lot of pain and suffering on Wednesday. That pain and suffering is continuing and will for some time. The mayor of San Bernardino said he saw that pain in the eyes of the relatives of the victims.

And, Isha, there are so many unanswered questions here. But the facts we do know, we do know that 14 people lost their lives for no good reason on Wednesday, 21 others have been seriously hurt. A lot of people are still asking that question, why did this happen.

SESAY: Yeah. And the youngest of the victims being 26 years old, the oldest, 60. It spans the gambit. People beginning their lives and people with so much to look forward to. So many peoples' lives shattered and needlessly so. A lot of pain and a lot of unanswered questions, John.

Among the 14 people kill, Michael Wetsel (ph), a father of six. IN a statement, his wife said he was the most amazing person she had ever met. Also dead, 52-year-old Nicholas Galanzo (ph), a county employee. 40-year-old Robert Adams, who was a husband and the father of a toddler. They were planning his daughter's first trip to Disneyland. And 45-year-old Shannon Johnson was from Los Angles.

12 of the victims were county employees, including Benetta Vepbadal (ph), who fled to the U.S. to flee religious prosecution in her native Iran. Her family and a friend shared her story with out own Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FAMILY FRIEND: She was an 18-year-old girl, fled -- Christian woman. She fled because of the religious persecution against Christians that was taking place. She came to the United States to start a new life and eventually moved to California where she met her husband, Arlan (ph), had her three children that you see here. She graduated from college with a degree in chemistry. She was hired by the San Bernardino Health Department as a health inspector, worked there for a number of years. And myself and the family, we find it sadly ironic and horrible that a woman that came to the country under these circumstances would find herself gunned down by religious extremists.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR, A.C. 360: Someone who fled Islamic extremism.

UNIDENTIFIED FAMILY FRIEND: Only to lose her life all these years later in America at the hands of religious extremism.

COOPER: Arlen (ph), do you feel -- do you want to say anything about Benetta (ph)?

ARLAN VEPBADAL (ph), WIFE OF BENETTA (ph): Just a lovely wife, beautiful mother. Everything she touched bloomed. Doing what she did for the county, there is no one person that would say anything negative about her. Always --

COOPER: She was making a presentation yesterday?

VEPBADAL (ph): Correct. Also, she was a plan checker, where anyone who needed to open a new restaurant, businesses, she went above and beyond, even on her own time, to help new clients with the county.

COOPER: How did you two meet?

VEPBADAL (ph): As Syrians, Christians, like Armenians, once a year, we meet at the convention center. For young people, meet, and adults meet. And for three days, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Mondays, there's activities for the friends and people.

COOPER: OK.

VEPBADAL (ph): And back in 1995, I met her through that, as a friend, and became good friends, best friends, and two years later, asked her for marriage.

COOPER: And what an incredible family you guys created.

VEPBADAL (ph): Thank you very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[02:24:49] SESAY: 14 dead, so many lives lost. And for their families, their lives will never be the same.

Also important to note that 21 people were also wounded in the shooting.

We will take a closer look at the investigation when we come back and why police and the FBI say there are so many unanswered questions.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: You are watching CNN's live breaking coverage of a mass shooting at a conference center here in California. I'm Isha Sesay, in Los Angeles.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause, in San Bernardino. It's coming up to 11:30 here at night.

And law enforcement officials say they've recovered two smashed cell phones from a garbage can near the crime scene and a computer but the hard drive is missing. Sources say the gunman, Syed Rezwan Farook, was apparently radicalized and had been in touch with a number of people under investigation by the FBI for international terrorism.

Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, killed 14 people at a conference center on Wednesday, and they were killed a few hours later in a shootout with police. Investigators say they found 12 pipe bombs and a trove of ammunition at their home.

The couple met in 2013 when Farook travelled to Saudi Arabia, one of two trips he made there.

Now, the chaos began at 11:00 a.m. local time and continued for hours.

CNN's Poppy Harlow has more now on the minute-by-minute response by police.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(GUNFIRE)

(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)

UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Confirmed. We have got a shooter in that car.

(END AUDIO FEED)

[02:30:00] POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Police zero in on Syed Rezwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, who just hours before had brutally shot and killed 14 people at an office event.

Acting on a tip, officers head to a house in the town of Redlands just 10 miles from the scene of the mass shooting. As they approach the home, a black Ford SUV drives by, slowly at first, then speeding away.

(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)

UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: We are in pursuit of the suspect vehicle eastbound on San Bernardino Avenue from Richardson. We've got shots fired out the back window. (END AUDIO FEED)

HARLOW: One shooter fires at police who are in hot pursuit. The chase headed back to San Bernardino. All of it playing out on live television.

(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)

DISPATCHER: We have units at San Bernardino and Richardson that are taking fire.

(END AUDIO FEED)

HARLOW: The SUV comes to a stop and a full-scale gun ballots breaks out.

(GUNFIRE)

HARLOW: The shooter firing 76 rounds. At least 21 officers return fire. Nearly 400 rounds riddle the SUV.

(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)

UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Multiple shots fired. We need a Bearcat. We need medical aid.

UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Right now, we have one down inside the car. One down outside the car.

(END AUDIO FEED)

HARLOW: Syed Rezwan Farook gets out. But he didn't get very far, his body in a pool of blood just across the street. Malik, her 6-month- old daughter at home with Grandma, dies in the vehicle.

As darkness falls, a robot enters the shooters' home. Found inside, thousands of rounds of ammunition, 12 pipe bombs, and what investigators call a bomb lab, with hundreds of tools that could be used to make explosives.

(on camera): And the question remains tonight, with all of those bomb-making materials, the pipe bombs, the tools found in the couple's home, did they have bigger plans? Were there other targets? That, we may never know. But the FBI digging through their garage, their home today to try to find any clues they can as to what could have possibly been the motivation behind this mass murder.

Poppy Harlow, CNN, San Bernardino, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: The FBI has also been interviewing the gunman's family as they try and piece together a possible motive for the shootings. Even Farook's brother in law says he has no idea why Farook and Malik carried out the attack.

And as Tom Foreman shows us, that's just one of a web of questions facing investigators right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let's start at this office gathering where authorities say Farook left angrily after a dispute and returned in short order with his wife and the shooting began. That's where the first real question arises here. That is, what set him off? Was it really an honest dispute or some sort of pretext to start the attack? Were there any warning signs? Was he having some kind of problem that somebody might have been aware of that may have told them this was on the way?

And why were the explosives not detonated? Authorities tell us they had a number of bombs that could have been set off remotely? They were never set off. Did they get out of range? Why didn't they set them off? Did they change their mind? We don't know.

Move to their home, about a six-minute drive away, we get a whole new set of questions. First, why did they return home? Certainly, Farook had to be aware of the possibility that somebody recognized him and alerted police. And, indeed, police were there. They spotted them, the chase followed, the shootout as well.

Beyond that, when you think about all of the thousands of rounds of ammunition and bomb equipment authorities have cited in the home, how long were they preparing? That's another important question.

And beyond that, if you move to the final stage, the shootout in which they lost their lives, there's a big question in play here. Were they planning something else either before or after this other event here? Why did they act now? And was somebody else involved, either on the ground or from afar, helping them out?

These are all the many, many, many questions that are out there right now. And there aren't, so far, many answers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Thank you to Tom Foreman for that.

And of course, Isha, amid all the chaos and the carnage here, because the attack was at a county function and involved county workers at a government facility, many of the government buildings around San Bernardino were put on lock down, and that included the hospitals as well. So, as they carried all those wounded to the hospitals, the doctors were treating victims in a lockdown situation, not entirely sure what was happening, because at that point, at the height of all of this, the gunmen were still out there, both Farook and his wife, Malik.

VAUSE: Yeah. Hospitals have drills for this kind of thing but I don't think anything can prepare you for the moment you realize you have victims of a mass shooting heading your way. I mean 21 people were wounded in this brutal mass shooting and they were rushed to those nearby hospitals. Six patients were taken to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center and the doctors and nurses had just minutes to prepare. This picture was taken in the hospital's trauma room Wednesday just before the victims arrived.

CNN's chief medial correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, spoke to some of the medical team about what they faced that horrific day.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[02:35:17] DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Your are looking inside one of the emergency rooms where patients were brought after the mass shooting that rocked southern California.

UNIDENTIFIED PHYSICIAN: We have 10 operating rooms straight ready to go. And Radiology was ready -- everyone was ready.

GUPTA (voice-over): So, here's where things took place. We're in the emergency room at the Arrowhead Medical Center. Here's where the calls came in. They had about 30 minutes before the patients would start to arrive. Behind these doors are the trauma bays.

Take a look at what it looks like now and compare it to yesterday.

(voice-over): For every patient brought in, there were four or five doctors prepared to treat the wounded.

(on camera): If you're looking at one of these bays, what does the look like as you're waiting for these patients to come in?

DR. DAKOTA SINGH, ARROWHEAD REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER: We had a senior- year resident up ahead with an attending anesthesiologist and we had an attending trauma surgeon at the foot, running the show, and we had a junior E.R. resident doing primary survey, having him check.

GUPTA (voice-over): Dr. Dakota Singh was the E.R. doctor in charge.

How much information do you have before the patients actually come through the wards?

SINGH: Very little, to be honest. Essentially, I was given reports of patients' injuries as far as location, where they were shot and mental status. That was basically all we had as they hit our doors. We had to prepare for a large influx of patients than we normally would. So, things you don't think of, calling blood banks for blood, getting enough blankets, getting enough I.V.s, fluids, a lot of things.

GUPTA (voice-over): This doctor is the chief of surgery, who, along with Dr. Singh, spoke exclusively to CNN, describing how they had to manage the worst mass shooting these doctors had ever seen.

UNIDENTIFIED PHYSICIAN: We made a decision to send one patient to the operating room, two patients to the CT scan, and one had to wait.

GUPTA: It's the waiting, the not knowing. That is the toughest part for any medical team.

(on camera): What is it that you worry about the most in these types of situations?

UNIDENTIFIED PHYSICIAN: That your resources get stressed so much that you might not be able to provide care to all the people who come and you have to decide who goes firs, who goes second, third and sometimes you have to decide who's care is futile and so don't waste a lot of time and resources and that will be the most difficult thing you can decide in mass casualties.

GUPTA: That's something you probably think about over and over again.

UNIDENTIFIED PHYSICIAN: Absolutely, because, in my mind, God should be the one who decides that, rather than you.

GUPTA (voice-over): Whoever made the decisions, all six patients treated here are expected to survive and do well.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, San Bernardino County, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: A horrifying day for those first responders.

For two decades, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control have not been allowed to research gun violence. Ahead, we'll hear from a doctor who says it's a public health issue, and wants that ban abolished.

[02:39:36] NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWS NOW. Hello, I'm Natalie Allen.

Germany will vote in a few hours on whether it will expand its role in the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Lawmakers are expected to vote in favor so the German military will not be conducting its own air strikes.

Meantime, there is new intelligence that indicates ISIS plans to carry out its next attack against the U.K., which has just started air strikes in Syria.

Two men have been arrested in Belgium in association with the Paris terror attacks but the search for this man has gone cold. Salah Abdeslam is believed to be the eighth attacker. A senior counterterrorism official says European security agencies have had no trace of him since he was dropped off in Brussels November 14th, the day after the attacks.

The president of the Brazilian Football Confederation is taking a leave of absence. Marco Polo del Nero says he will devote his time to defending himself against U.S. charges stemming from the FIFA corruption scandal. U.S. federal prosecutors announced charges against 16 FIFA officials on Thursday. They allege the officials were part of a 24-year bribery scheme.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT L. CAPERS, U.S. FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: We say to you, enough is enough. If you are involved in or have the desire to partake in this type of corruption that we are investigating and prosecuting, now is not the time to hold power or seek to gain power. Now is the time to step away, to make room for a new generation of leaders who we hope will give the beautiful game of soccer and millions of its fans the honest leadership it so richly deserves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: That is CNN NEWS NOW. I'm Natalie Allen. Continuing coverage on the mass shooting in California continues next.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN.

SESAY: You are watching CNN's breaking coverage of a deadly shooting here in California. I'm Isha Sesay, in Los Angeles.

VAUSE: And I'm John Vause, in San Bernardino.

Authorities here in California believe a combination of workplace grievances and terrorism may have led to Wednesday's deadly shooting. Sources say the gunman, Syed Rezwan Farook, was apparently radicalized. He had been in touch with a number of people under investigation by the FBI for international terrorism.

Meantime, law enforcement officials say they have recovered two smashed cell phones in a garbage can near one of the crime scenes. Officials believe the phones were damaged to hide the call history. And authorities recovered a computer from the shooter's home but the hard drive was missing. Investigators believe it was removed and possibly destroyed.

Much more from San Bernardino in just a few moments.

But in the meantime, let's go back to Isha in Los Angeles with more information about the mass shootings in the United States and some more perspective on how often these events occur.

SESAY: Yeah, John, it's important to put this all in context for our viewers., because records show that mass shootings occur in the U.S. on average more than once a day. ShootingTracker.com defines a mass shooting as one that leaves four or more people wounded or dead. There have been 353 of those in the U.S. this year, taking place in 220 cities and 47 states. Including Wednesday's attack, a total of 462 people have been killed in mass shootings in 2015. And more than 1300 have been injured.

Well, in their first appearances since Wednesday's shooting, Republican presidential candidates expressed condolences to the victim's families and the survivors. And while President Obama has hesitated in calling the shooting terrorism, some GOP candidates did not hold back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: We had another event which probably was -- the one yesterday, probably was related, radical Islamic terrorism. And I'll tell you what. We have a president that refuses to use the term. He refuses to say it. There is something going on with him.

SEN. TED CRUZ, (R), TEXAS & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Politically correct doublespeak that comes from the Obama administration has gone beyond the point of ridiculous.

CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R), NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am convinced that was a terrorist attack.

(APPLAUSE)

CHRISTIE: And --

(APPLAUSE)

CHRISTIE: -- the president continues to wring his hands and say, we'll see.

JEB BUSH, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR: The brutal savagery of Islamic terrorism exists. And this president and his former secretary of state cannot call it for what it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Doctor Alice Chen, thank you so much for joining us.

Now, you said the U.S. is dealing with a gun violence epidemic. And you actually belong to a group of physicians who believe we should be looking at the problem of gun violence as a public health issue. Why is that important?

DR. ALICE CHEN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DOCTORS FOR AMERICA: Gun violence is something that is affecting communities, individuals, families across the country every single day. And as medical professionals, as doctors, as nurses, as public health professionals we are seeing these people coming into our hospitals, our E.R.s, people coming in with injuries, people killed by gun violence, we are seeing them, having to treat them every single day. It is clearly a public health issue.

[02:45:08] SESAY: With that in mind, I have to ask you, what went through your mind when you first heard about Wednesday's mass shooting in California.

CHEN: Like everyone else, I was -- I had a mixture of shock and a feeling of, wow, is this happening again, yet, one more time. And I really had the sense that we've had this ban on the CDC doing gun violence research for 20 years, and it is time, it is beyond time for Congress to take action and make sure that we can do research so we can prevent these kinds of tragedies from happening so often.

SESAY: Talk to me about the impact of this ban. Talk to me about the kind of data you believe is being lost because it's in place.

CHEN: We do have a small number of researchers who have been doing research during the past 20 years but it's not nearly enough. We have over 32,000 people who are dying of gun violence every year in America. And there is so much information that we don't have. We don't know, what are -- what are the best ways that we can prevent a teenager from committing suicide with a gun? What -- where are the urban violence that's happening, where are those guns coming from? Are they illegal? Are they legal? What are the best ways to prevent a child from accidentally finding a gun and shooting their sibling? These are some basic questions that we need answered.

SESAY: I think it's worth underscoring what you just said, that the focus here in not just simply looking at mass shootings of the kind that just happened in California.

CHEN: That's right.

SESAY: You're looking at gun violence as a whole?

CHEN: Absolutely. 89 people a day are dying from gun violence in this country. Two-thirds are from suicides. There are so many people being harmed, families being harmed, and we need answers.

SESAY: How much buy in do you have from law enforcement for the lifting of the ban on research?

CHEN: There's a lot of -- there's of outcry, certainly among the medical and public health communities. I think there are a lot of people in this country that don't know that this ban is in effect. Mostly people I talk to, they say, wait, what, we can't do research on gun violence? That doesn't make any sense. So the more we've been talking to people, the more people realize, wow, this is a ban that makes no sense for this country. We need to life it now. We need to fund the research that is going to save lives.

SESAY: How optimistic are you that the ban will be lifted?

CHEN: I am optimistic. Congress has an opportunity right now to lift the ban. If they don't do it now, they have an opportunity at any moment that they could lift this ban. And we are seeing an increasing outcry among so many people who are saying this is not an issue of right versus left, of Republicans versus Democrats. These are questions everyone wants answers to. Every time we hear stories of another shooting, one of the first questions all of us ask is, how did this happen, and how can we prevent it. And that is exactly what we are trying to get done.

SESAY: Doctor Alice Chen, we appreciate your efforts and you joining us here to discuss them. Thank you so much for speaking to us.

CHEN: Thank you so much for having me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Time for a quick break. A shattered community takes a step towards healing. Just ahead, a look that candlelight vigil to remember those killed in the San Bernardino shooting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[02:51:00] DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good day. I'm CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam, with a quick look at your "Weather Watch."

(WEATHER REPORT)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: While investigators search for a motive in Wednesday's killing spree, the community is now taking steps to try and heal. Hundreds gathered for a candlelight vigil at a stadium in San Bernardino. Impromptu vigils sprang up near the site as well. Also at churches throughout the area. The largest mosque in San Bernardino County also held a prayer vigil for the victims. Muslim leaders have been quick to condemn the massacre as well.

U.S. President Obama also honored the victims during the annual tree lighting ceremony in Washington on Thursday night. The first family was there for the lighting. And while it's normally a fun, joyous occasion, there were somber moments as well as President Obama took time to honor those who were killed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Their loss is our loss, too, for we're all one American family. We look out for each other in good times and in bad. And they should know that all of us care about them this holiday season. They are in our thoughts. They are in our prayers. And we send them our love.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: 14 people killed, 21 people who were -- 17 people wounded, and a community now left to heal after another shooting tragedy.

And of course, Isha, we're seen these scenes play out so many times before after these mass shootings. People come together, they pray and they pray and they hope that these things will never happen again. But yet, they continue to happen in this country. And of course, the moment these shootings happen, both sides go to their corners and no one seems to come together to try to figure out ways to try and stop it.

SESAY: There's no doubt it plays out in the same way over and over again. Still, John, so many unanswered questions in this latest mass shooting.

I'm wondering what you sense in just in terms of scale of resources thrown at this investigation to try to help people find answers.

VAUSE: Look, this has been a massive response by all accounts, from the hundreds of police officers dispatched, now the grief counselors and medical teams in place to try and help the community get through this terrible, terrible event. And of course, we're here in the days after the shooting. But as we've seen time and time again for these communities, be it Sandy Hook, Oregon, Columbine, go through the list, Virginia Tech, and on and on it goes. These people will be dealing with the tragedy and the fallout of Wednesday's event, not just days and weeks, but months and years to come. And for those that have lost loved ones, this will never come to an end because they'll continue to grieve for those people who were killed. And for so many people here, this was a senseless event. This was a holiday party. There is no rhyme or reason to this. Everyone keeps looking for this motive. But even if they do find a motive for this, whatever it was, it was senseless. These people died for no good reason.

[02:55:55] SESAY: Yeah, lives forever altered.

Thank you, John, for sharing your thoughts there.

You're watching CNN's coverage of a shooting massacre here in California. I'm Isha Sesay, in Los Angeles.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause, here live in San Bernardino, California.

Please stay with us on CNN. A lot more after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)