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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

City Police Chief IDs Two Dead Suspects; 14 Dead in San Bernardino Mass Shooting. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired December 03, 2015 - 05:00   ET

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

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN ANCHOR: The city police chief identified the dead suspects as 28-year-old Syed Farook and a woman he was in a relationship with, 27-year-old Tashfeen Malik.

[05:00:03] The question, of course, now is why? Federal officials say they have not ruled out terrorism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JARROD BURGUAN, SAN BERNARDINO POLICE CHIEF: Mr. Farook is a county employee. He works with his title as an environmental specialist in the public health department, has been employed there for five years.

He was at the party. He did leave the party early under some circumstances that were described as angry or something of that nature. That is the information that we were following up on when we encountered him back near this residence in Redlands which led to the pursuit and the officer-involved shooting. And as we now confirmed, he is one of the deceased.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSINSKI: Initial reports had three gunmen involved in the attack. And there was a third person who was held for questioning, but police now say they're fairly certain there were two shooters, both of whom are now dead. The bomb squad finally disposing of explosive devices found at the shooting scene, just a few hours ago.

So, let's bring in CNN's John Vause, who is live for us this morning in Redlands, outside the gunman's home.

So, John, what exactly are they doing there at this hour? Are they still out there? Are they still going through that location?

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Michelle, they had been going through the house a few hours ago. That operation has been put on hold. We're expecting that operation to resume any moment now. The timing of that is not entirely clear.

But what they're doing is taking their time. We have been told that residents around here have essentially been told to stay indoors. We know that many residents have been evacuated. The reason why we saw the bomb squad sending in that robotic device to try to look for explosives is for the concerns, this house, this town home, may be rigged with explosives or bobby traps.

One reason for that is because of past experience. Law enforcement officials say when there had been this kind of mass shooting events in the past and they have gone to the gunman's home, they found it to be rigged with explosives. Also because, quite simply, there were explosives found at the community center, where the shooting took place on Wednesday. They found a bag full of explosives.

And according to sources close to the information telling our justice correspondent Evan Perez, they were rudimentary explosive devices with black gunpowder rigged to explode up to a remote control car. And the sources are telling us that the way that they believe it was going to play out is that once Syed Farook and Malik would live or leave the area, they would set off the explosive devices with the remote control. Now, either they didn't do that, they didn't get around to for out of range. That part of the plan never actually worked.

But here, this is where police came, after they received a tip, that Syed Farook was that person who left the party angry. When they came out here, that is when they saw that suspicious SUV driving in a suspicious manner and then gave chase. That's when the shootout occurred a few miles away from here. And, of course, Syed Farook and his partner, his girlfriend or his wife, were both killed during that shootout.

There is a third investigation under way in Farook's office, he was a county employee, he worked for county for about five years. So, right now, all of these things, as soon as they get into the townhouse, into Farook's office, also in the SUV, they're looking for any clues as to why they carried out this attack, what was the possible motive be at this point. Also, anybody else who may have been involved in the planning.

On that issue of why, on the motive, the relatives of Syed Farook said they were stunned. They never saw this coming. The brother-in-law actually held a news conference. He told reporters that, like so many other members of the families, they were left stunned by these events.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FARHAN KHAN, SUSPECT SYED FAROOK'S BROTHER-IN-LAW: I have no idea. 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.

I cannot express how sad I am for, you know, what happened today. I mean, I -- my condolences to the people who lost their lives. Very sad that people lost their lives and the victims out there. I wish speedy recovery to them. I'm in shock that something like this could happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Now, keep in mind -- this has been a massive police operation. We know that from the police chief here in San Bernardino, it was massive and it was quick. They responded within four minutes of receiving first emergency call, and according to the police chief, they were evacuating the wounded from that building within 15 minutes and, of course, the two gunmen at that point, they thought it may have been three gunmen, were still on the loose -- Michelle and John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So interesting here, John. Mass shootings almost always carried out by a single gun person. Here, it was carried out by two and that almost never happens.

[05:05:01] It was a couple, you almost never see that, a man and woman who appear to have been if not married, in a long-term relationship.

We got interesting information overnight, John, they may have dropped off their 6-year-old child with the kid's grandmother before going to this shooting?

VAUSE: Yes, I believe it was a young child. I think it may have been a 6-month-old baby. I think that is what we were originally being told. They told the grandmother that they had a doctor's appointment, could they look after their daughter for them, she thought nothing of it at the time.

And then this is all happening on Wednesday. And the grandmother, seeing the reports on television about the shooting at the inland regional center, and her grandson or son rather -- grandson worked for the county and became concerned. And so, she tried calling them. She called their cell phone, no answer.

The first she found out about it is when a reporter called her asking if she was related to Syed Farook and was the suspected gunman. Much like the brother-in-law we heard from, the grandmother totally shocked that clearly a member of her family was involved in this mass murder.

KOSINSKI: Also some reporting this morning in "The L.A. Times" that Farook may have been in Saudi Arabia recently, other details like he was a well liked employee, I don't know any of that information has been confirmed by officials at this point. Are you hearing similar out there, and I guess that's really all part of the investigation at this point?

VAUSE: There is a lot of reports which are flying around and have been flying around. Some of them have been dismissed fairly quickly like the involvement of this man who was the third suspect, dismissed by police as not being true. There have been reports yet to be confirmed and, obviously, that's something they'll be looking into with Syed Farook.

Where did he travel? What was his relationship with others within this community? Where had he been? Who had he been in contact with online? What was his social media footprint like? Who had he been in contact with?

All of this going back to motive. As we heard from the FBI, no one at this point willing to officially confirm that this was an act of terrorism, but obviously not willing to rule it out at this point because there is still so much information, so much which they have to go through so they can say definitively exactly what drove these people to do what they did. BERMAN: All right. John Vause for us in San Bernardino -- thank you

very much. We'll check back with you in a few minutes.

The victims who were seriously injured in the shootings, they were taken to two trauma centers nearby. Loma Linda University Medical Center in the Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, which is where CNN Dan Simon for us this morning, Dan, the latest on the information on those injured.

Good morning, Dan.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

Truthfully, right now, the information is very limited in terms of how the victims are faring. We know that six victims were originally brought here to the arrowhead regional medical center. One has been discharged. We don't have a condition update on the victims.

Obviously, these are people who had gunshot wounds. There were reports of a family huddled in the parking lot saying prayers, things of that nature. The kinds of things you would expect when you have this kind of tragedy.

Over at Loma Linda, we know five patients are there. We do have more information about their condition. We know that two of them are in critical but stable condition, two in fair condition. And at last check one patient was still being assessed.

Because of all of the confusion surrounding everything that was happening, we can tell you that security at both hospitals has been heightened. Right now, security is still very, very high. I actually tried to get into the entrance of the emergency room. I couldn't even get past the front door.

We know that there was some kind of bomb threat yesterday afternoon at the Loma Linda hospital. That was deemed to be not credible. Nonetheless, they took the security precaution of canceling classes at the university.

But, again, security still at a heightened alert. Hopefully, we're going to get more information about how these victims are doing. But right now, the information is pretty limited, John.

BERMAN: All right. Dan Simon for us at one of the hospitals where they are caring for some of the injured. Thanks so much, Dan.

KOSINSKI: Thanks, Dan.

To talk about the attacks and that investigation, joining us now on the phone, former FBI special agent Steve Moore.

Steve, there is so much speculation out there at this point, we know it is early on. But based on the information that you have seen and heard, what can you tell us about the direction of the investigation at this point? STEVE MOORE, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT (via telephone): Well, what

they're going to do is try to find out exactly obviously what we're all trying to do is find out what the motive was. But they're going to do that through finding associates, through assessment of his electronic devices, his computers, his phones, things like that.

[05:10:05] And they're going to look at the basic circumstances of the attack, the methods and the tactics of the attack and see if there is any similarities between that and any other type of group.

KOSINSKI: Really an unusual situation here. I mean, you have something like what appears to be meticulous planning. And then you have an argument at a workplace. What jumps out at you? And what kinds of elements are telling you what this could be, if it is not too early to try to, you know, piece together some of the evidence and some of what's out there now?

MOORE: Well, you're right, it is probably too early, but for inclusions, but you have to start speculating early if you're investigating it.

The things that jump out to me are the fact that if this were a pure terrorist act, why did he choose to kill people he knew, why did he choose to kill people who he had apparently some kind of bad feelings with? If this was purely religiously motivated terrorism, you would expect him to go some place else than a party with his co-workers.

The other thing is the use of the flack vest, the bulletproof vest. In Paris, you saw people wearing bomb vests, not bulletproof vests. They have the exact opposite use.

And so, the fact that he was trying to survive the attack so strongly is an indicator that it may not be purely motivated by the terrorist -- by the terrorist bent. But it could be partially -- it is going to be a hybrid.

KOSINSKI: Yes.

BERMAN: You know, it is unusual, obviously, we almost never see more than one person involved in a mass shooting in the United States. Almost never see a woman involved. Here you have two people obviously a couple and one of them is this 27-year-old woman Tashfeen Malik.

MOORE: That really is going to be -- is something new. That's a twist I just have not seen before. I've seen siblings, obviously and family members but not seen a woman be involved.

I think you're likely to find that this guy has been radicalized at some level. But it seems to me that what -- what happened is, and she may have been part of that or at least helped him along with it, I think what you're going to find is that the person had some mental problems and was using the radicalization as a way to solve his personal problems.

BERMAN: All right. Steven Moore for us.

KOSINSKI: Great insight.

BERMAN: Former FBI official there, giving us some insight about what they're probably thinking about now in this investigation. These very early stages. There are so many questions because, frankly, so many unusual ingredients in this shooting.

KOSINSKI: And a lot of threads too. To piece this together, it is going to take time.

We're going to be following the breaking news on this California shooting massacre all morning long. President Obama too weighing in on the tragedy. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:17:47] BERMAN: The breaking news out of California, the investigation into the attack in San Bernardino still unfolding. This is what we know now. Police say around 11:00 a.m. local time two suspects, Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, they burst into a holiday party at the inland regional center and started shooting, 14 people were killed, 17 injured.

At this point, police say they have no clear picture of the motive. They say they have not ruled out terrorism. They say Farook worked at the health department, along with many of the people at the party. He left the event abruptly before coming back. It's when he opened fire.

This led police to go to Farook's townhouse. When they got there, he sped off in a black SUV, police followed him, and the shootout both he and Malik died. Police say they're just beginning to process the crime scene at the Inland Regional Center and to remove the bodies of the victims.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BURGUAN: I indicated early on we have victims at the scene. Up until within, I would say, the last couple of hours, we have been working on what we felt were explosive devices left at the scene. We confirmed we believe those were explosive devices. I think about an hour or two ago, the bomb squad finally disposed of those particular items, so we are just now getting in there and starting to process the crime scene per se. I don't have the identification on any of the victims at this point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSISNSKI: President Obama speaking out about the shooting in an interview that was going on when the shooting happened. He said that San Bernardino continues a pattern of U.S. gun violence that is, according to him, unique in the world. The president calling for a bipartisan political effort to stop or at least reduce future attacks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's 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. Commonsense gun safety laws, stronger background checks.

And, you know, for those who are concerned about terrorism, you know, some may be aware of the fact that we have a no-fly list where people can't get on planes.

[05:20:00] But those same people who we don't allow to fly could go into a store right now in the United States and buy a firearm, and there is nothing we can to the stop them. That's a law that needs to be changed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, as this was unfolding, there were dramatic calls to dispatch, dramatic radio traffic for four hours after the initial shooting. The shootout with the gunmen. That couple, Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, married or in some kind of relationship, saw it all unfold. Details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:25:01] BERMAN: The breaking news out of California, two suspects dead this morning. Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, a man and woman, either married or some kind of couple.

As officers closed in on the two suspects, a gun battle began. You can hear the radio traffic from law enforcement, cool and collected. Listen to this recording from the San Bernardino dispatcher. You can hear gunfire in the background.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, last seen in the alleyway heading towards Gould. Do we have a clothing description?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Male, dark skinned is all I have on this frequency.

(INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't need more people here unless it's a SWAT team.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 902, what is your location?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're at San Bernardino and Shedden. One guy down. One guy in the back of a car.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just for the update, we have the suspect stopped. We're going ahead and extract him. Stand by, wait for the bearcat.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Copy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now we have one down outside the car. One down inside the car. From what we understand, one is on the run.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: Now, they did detain one additional person besides the two. To this point, they do believe only the two suspects killed were involved in the shooting itself.

KOSINSKI: Now, we're getting some new information about the gunman and gunwoman in that attack. Live team coverage is next to break it down.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)