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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Fourteen Killed, 17 Wounded in San Bernardino Shooting; Two Suspects Killed by Police, Now ID-ed; Authorities: Not A Spontaneous Attack. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired December 03, 2015 - 05:30   ET

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

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[05:30:51] MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning, 14 people dead, 17 wounded, in a California office building massacre. The attackers were killed hours later in a shootout with police. They now have been identified.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Michelle Kosinski.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Berman. About 30 minutes past the hour right now. Want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world.

The breaking news this morning, the very latest in the shooting in San Bernardino, California, that left 14 people dead, 17 injured. Authorities say two suspects died in a gun battle with police, hours after they burst into a holiday party for employees at the County Health Department.

The city police chief identified the dead suspects as 28-year-old Syed Farook and a woman that he was either married to or in a relationship with, 27-year-old Tashfeen Malik. The question is, why? Why did they do this? 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 the 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 have now confirmed, he is one of the deceased.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Initial reports had three gunmen involved in the attack. And the third person was held for questioning. But police at this point say they're fairly certain there were only two shooters. Both of whom are now dead. Now, just a few hours ago, the bomb squad finally disposed of some explosive devices found at the shooting scene. They've been working all night on this.

Want to bring in CNN's John Vause live for us this morning in Redlands. This is outside the gunmen's home. John, what's the latest?

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Well John, what we've been hearing overnight from not just law enforcement officials but also the sources close to the investigation. We're now piecing together a much better narrative of exactly what happened and why this town home was so crucial in essentially bringing this case to an end, to finding the two shooters involved in this. They had his name Syed Farook, he was the man who left the holiday party angry and then came back with his partner, Tashfeen Malik and opened fire, killing those people.

And then because they had his name, that led them to this townhouse here. We don't know if they own the townhouse, if they rented the townhouse or they simply just lived here. But this was the crucial piece of the puzzle. So once they got here, that's when they saw that black SUV. He was driving in a suspicious manner, and then there was that police chase, they chased the vehicle for a number of miles and then ended in the gun battle with police.

The SUV was rittled with bullet holes. We're told by the San Bernardino police chief that there were in fact 21 police officers involved in that gun battle with the two people inside as we now know Farook and Malik both killed, and they out with car as you as you can see there right with the windows blown out, riddled with bullet holes.

Once that was -- that gun chase was under way, we were then told the bomb squad was called in here to the town home because of concerns it may have been booby trapped, because there were explosives left at the initial scene of the shooting at the Inland Regional Center. So they sent in these robots to try to search out the area. They told residents nearby they should stay indoored. They've evacuated many people who lived near that town home. And as of this hour, we believe that no one has actually entered that town home. Certainly not yet. That's something which will obviously be happening in the coming hours.

One thing they're now looking for, of course, is a motive. They'll be getting into that town home, trying to find any writing, social media footprint, anything on computers, that kind of thing. To that end, they're also searching Farook's office, he was a county employee for five years.

Again, searching for any kind of indication that someone else may have been involved and indeed a motive, because what we're hearing from leaders within the Islamic community, who have been in touch with the family and in fact the family themselves, the brother-in-law spoke to reporters a few hours ago saying that he certainly didn't see this coming.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) [05:35:16] FARHAN KHAN, SUSPECT SYED FAROOK'S BROTHER-IN-LAW: I have no idea. 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. I just cannot express how sad I am for what happened today. I mean, I -- my condolences to, you know, the people who lost their life. I am very sad that, you know, people lost their life and others with them out there. I wish speedy recovery to them and, again, I am in shock that something like this could happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Of course, while everyone is looking for some kind of motive here, one thing that it seems everyone agrees on is that this mass shooting goes way beyond any kind of normal response to an angry confrontation at a holiday party, John.

BERMAN: John, what do we know about the relationship between the two suspects? Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, the man and the woman. Were they married? How long had they known each other? And what about their child, their 6-month-old baby they apparently dropped off at the grandmother's in the morning?

VAUSE: Well, there does seem to be some confusion over their actual status. What we do know that they were in fact a couple. To how long they were together, at this point we just don't know. But they did have a 6-month-old baby daughter who on Wednesday morning they left with the grandmother, who was willing to take care of the child because she was told they were going off to see a doctor. They had a doctor's appointment. She thought nothing of it. Obviously something which happened many times before, she cared for the child in the past.

And then when she saw these reports on television of the shooting, which was happening at the Inland Regional Center, she became concerned, she tried calling, both of them, no answer on their cell phones and the first she knew about the fact that Syed Farook was involved, when she was contacted by a reporter asking if she was related in any way and, of course, much like the brother-in-law who we saw then, she was shocked.

But one thing which is clear, and we heard this a lot from law enforcement, is there was a great deal of planning which went into the shooting, into this mass murder, leading up to this. The police chief saying this certainly wasn't a spur of the moment there.

KOSINSKI: Right.

BERNMAN: Right, John Vause for us at San Bernardino, thank you so much John.

KONSINKI: Thanks John. And victims who were seriously injured in the shootings were taken to two area trauma centers, Loma Linda University Medial Center and Arrowhead Regional Medical Center.

Where just were CNN Dan Simon is for us this morning. He now joins us with the latest on those victims. John? I'm sorry, Dan. DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, hi Michelle. We're at the -- we're -- no worries. We're here at the Arrowhead Regional Medical Center. We can tell you that six patients were taken here, originally one has been discharged.

We don't have a whole lot of information about the patients who are here, but I can tell you that one woman, a 27-year-old woman, was shot in the lower back. She works for the health department, she was at that banquet. And she told family that she was actually lying down trying to protect herself when she was shot in the back. She was able to communicate with family and tell them that. She says that the -- the family says she called them from her cell phone and she says she just wanted to say that she loved them.

In terms of the victims at Loma Linda, five patients there, two of them in critical but stable condition. Two in fair condition and one patient at least at last check was still being assessed. Because of the confusion, and everything that was going on yesterday afternoon, I can tell you that security at both locations has been heightened.

Apparently. It's still at a heightened fashion. I actually tried to go into the front entrance of the hospital to the emergency room, couldn't even get past the front door.

We believe that the police officer who was injured in that shootout, that dramatic shootout, we believe he was taken to Loma Linda but apparently is going to be OK. At this point the information is limited. But, again, we got five patients at both hospitals and we hope to get more information as the day goes on. Michelle?

KOSINSKI: Thanks so much, Dan.

[05:39:23] BERMAN: All right, 14 people shot to death in California. Questions about the people who did it, the shooters, what their motivation was, were they working alone? Our special coverage continues next.

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[05:43:47] BERMAN: All right, the breaking news out of California, two shooters dead. Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, a man and woman who either married, or a couple, they burst into a holiday party at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino and started shooting. At the end 14 people were killed, 17 injured. Want to talk about the attacks and the investigation.

Joining us now by telephone former FBI Special Agent Steve Moore. Good morning, Steve. Given that there were explosives involved, including some kind of potentially remote controlled device, given that there were two heavily armed shooters, can this be considered a spontaneous attack and are you confident that there were not other people involved at least behind the scenes?

STEVE MOORE, FBI SPECIAL AGENT: No, this was not a spontaneous attack. They had -- they had cashed machine guns, they had cashed ammunition, explosives. So this was a well planned out attack. And at this point, there is no way that anybody could -- with any kind of authority say that there is nobody else involved. But, again, this is kind of a personal attack that they -- rather than terrorism (inaudible).

[05:40:11] BERMAN: All right, I believe we lost Steve Moore there, former FBI official, telling us he doesn't believe there is any way this was spontaneous considering the weapons involved, the arsenal assembled there and cannot say with any certainty that there were not others involved.

Right now, police are saying there were two shooters. They believe they kill the two shooters. They probably know that because they can see the video at this point from inside the facility. So two shooters, but were there any -- was there anyone else involved perhaps in logistics, support, perhaps people behind the scenes?

Want to bring in Chris Cuomo "NEW DAY" anchor who is now on the scene in San Bernardino. And Chris, these are the questions that officials, I think, are still confused about this morning.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Absolutely. Absolutely. You're asking the right questions. You and Michelle both. And I have to say, to Steve Moore's point, common sense does suggests that this could not have been spontaneous, even though it does seem to have been initiated according to eyewitness testimony by this one suspect leaving this party or this conference at the Inland Regional Center just behind us here in San Bernardino.

However, I'm telling you, I've been talking to authorities all night, they will dismiss nothing. This is so odd. And so confusing on levels of the investigation that they're ruling nothing out. They won't say, well, we know for sure it wasn't spontaneous. Yes, common sense dictates that. Yes, the fact they supposedly dropped off their 6- month-old baby with a bogus story to the mother-in-law, to the mother, is an odd situation there and suggests that they have been planning something from the beginning.

But investigators going very slow here. And I think that should be an instruction to all of us. Why would they be going slow? Because a lot of it doesn't make sense. You have everybody and the families surrounding this young man, this 28-year-old American saying we had no clue, we had no idea about this. You have reports out there about where he may have been during this spring. And what that may have meant for his life, that investigators don't have a handle on yet. You do have the idea of what they had. We do know that at least two of the weapons, the long guns, right maybe AR-15 according to the cops, did not come from him, legally bought but not from him.

So who bought them? How did they come into his person? They were purchased some three or four years ago. These are questions are being asked by investigators. I have to tell you John and Michelle, we've covered a lot of these, this one has been different from the beginning. There's been confusion around this since the very first moment, none of it seems to make sense, even though aspects of it did smack of the painfully familiar.

To be sure, we know this, 14 people are gone. Their families, many of them don't know yet, 17 people are in two trauma centers, we know that for sure. We don't know their statuses. We do know that makes this the deadliest mass shooting since Newtown. We know that both these people being involved makes it the first tandem mass shooting since Columbine.

KOSINSKI: Yes and one way police really can't work slowly is if there are other people involved in this. I mean, they need to find whoever else could be out there. It was somewhat of a relief that the possible third shooter turned out to most likely not have been involved. So we have two shooters, they believe both of them are dead.

However, I mean, if somebody else is out there, are you getting a sense that this is over or do you feel that possibility that because of the meticulous planning there could have been other people who either were involved in this or are on to the next planned thing, Chris?

CUOMO: Without any intention of any way extending any drama in this situation, there's no need for that. I'm telling you investigators say they just don't know what the full parameters of this situation are. And that it doesn't make sense on several levels. Certainly as a spontaneous shooting, it doesn't make sense to them early on, but they don't want to dismiss it and the explosives, who thought these people how to make them, right.

They're wired to a radio controlled car, they believe they found it in the back of the SUV. You don't do that right away, that's on spontaneous thing that you pick up. Doesn't go with the story to the mother about the kids. So there are a lot of pieces here.

Hey, and that said, the reason that this ended in this, you know, the shootout here that was all over television was because of really quick police work. There's no question the police were on scene and they nailed this down very early, resulting in what happened with the takedown of those two suspects. But the investigation by all indications has a long way to go.

BERMAN: And the interviews, I mean, it got to be so hard for the survivors, we know 17 people were injured, there were probably dozens more in the room at the time. They are crucial witnesses here, Chris, I have to believe, the people that officials want to talk to right now, what happened before this man left the party.

CUOMO: And you know how it works, John. First of all you had hundreds of people in the facility. Luckily it's broken up into different buildings, only one of them they believe was targeted by this County Health Department that was in there.

[05:50:03] But I know for a fact that you have a lot of different police assets working the situation. That's good. But when one person, let's say 15 different people talks to 15 different eyewitnesses. Well, now you got to coordinate those accounts. You have to, you know, synchronize your timing, you have to get a common field of information and belief to work off of, this takes time.

And it is balanced against the urgency of their fear that something else could happen. That's why the road behind us is still locked down, part of that is also processing the crime scene, they had to wait for the explosives unit to get out of there before they could process the scene, which is why there are so many families still waiting for definitive word about whether or not their loved ones are among those who deceased in this shooting.

So they got a lot of different areas of the city locked down. You know, the hospitals have been on somewhat of a scare. There is a tentativeness here that is a little unusual, but is done in the exercise of caution.

BERMAN: All right, Chris, Chris Cuomo for us in San Bernardino. We'll see you in about 10 minutes on "New Day". Thanks a lot Chris.

KOSINSKI: And this isn't a loner either. This is someone with a family and a baby and a job for five years and described as well liked.

BERMAN: An American.

KOSINSKI: Yeah. So we're going to be following this breaking news all morning on the California shooting massacre. President Obama also weighing in. We'll have that next.

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[05:55:43] BERMAN: All right, the latest now from the breaking news this morning from San Bernardino, California. Police say both attackers in a mass shooting that left 14 dead and 17 wounded, two shooters were killed in a gun battle with police. They have identified the shooter as Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik. They say they were in some kind of romantic relationship, married or engaged, boyfriend and girlfriend. Official say they believe initial reports that they were three shooters turned out to be incorrect. Just two shooters inside the facility. They say a third person caught running away from the scene of the gun battle was not one of the shooters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BURGUAN: But when the officer involved shooting occurred, the initial officers that we had information from did not see anybody specifically fleeing the vehicle. It was other responding vehicles that saw this person running away from the scene, stopped them and detained him. We initially put out that we had information that there were upwards of three shooters. Right now as we continue to drill down our information and the witness statements that we have, it really looks like we have two shooters and we're pretty comfortable that the two shooters that we believe went into the building are the two shooters that are deceased on San Bernardino Avenue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSINSKI: Still don't know anything about motive, whether others might have been involved in the planning of this. And President Obama was asked about the shooting in an interview. He told CBS News at San Bernardino continues a pattern of gun violence in the United States that he says, unique in the world. The President called for a bipartisan political effort to stop or at least reduce future attacks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There are 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. Common sense gun safety laws, stronger background checks, 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, 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 that we can do to stop them. That's a law that needs to be changed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: I expect we will hear more from the President this morning.

Meanwhile, we're getting new information about the shooters in California, new information on the investigation. "New Day" starts right now.

CUOMO: Welcome to viewers in the United States and around the world. You are watching "New Day." Alisyn and Michaela are in New York. We're in San Bernardino, California.

This, of course, the site of the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. since Newtown, Connecticut. Police say 14 people were killed, 17 others injured, rushed to trauma centers nearby here. The investigation is still very active. There is no clear indication why this happened, or exactly how many could be involved on some level. Now overnight police did identify two shooters who they believe opened fire on county employees attending some type of party at a social services center just up the street from where we are right now.

A family member says the two were married. That itself is unclear. That would make this, however, first multiple shooter attack since Columbine in the United States. Both shooters were killed in this dramatic shootout with police, a function of really quick and brave police work.

Early reports of a third shooter that you may have heard, no longer the case according to authorities. Police say the massacre began after the male shooter left that company Holiday Party. He was an employee for the county. And there was some kind of argument. That's when he returned with his accomplice, heavily armed.

So, the big question is now, was this deadly workplace violence, it doesn't seem to meet with common sense, or a planned act of domestic terrorism? CNN has complete coverage the way only we can of this situation. Let's begin with Victor Blackwell, he his live in Redlands, California. That's where this manhunt came to an explosive end. It's also where it began. Victor.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Chris, this neighborhood is still effectively shut down. The crews are here late into the evening, searching a home that according to a lead belongs to one of the shooters, Syed Farook. At least he lived here.

[06:00:01] That home was given the all-clear, late into the evening. But we know that investigators will be back at this home later today to answer the question, why? And finally we're getting some clear picture of what has been over those several frightening hours.