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Massacre Shooters Killed in Gun Fight with Police; 14 Killed, 17 Wounded in California Massacre. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired December 03, 2015 - 06:00   ET

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

[05:58:04] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to viewers in the United States and around the world. You are watching NEW DAY. Alisyn and Mick 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, the first multiple shooter attack since Columbine in the United States.

Both shooters 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 that 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 is 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. Crews were 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. That home was given the all-clear, late into the evening.

But we know that investigators will be back at this home today to answer the question why. And finally, we're getting some clearer picture of what happened over those several frightening hours.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL (voice-over): Breaking overnight, two suspects in San Bernardino's mass shooting identified. Police say the suspects, 28- year-old Syed Rizwan Farook and 27-year-old Tashfeen Malik were shot dead in this black SUV at the end of a massive manhunt. Overnight a SWAT team sweeping this Redlands home for explosives.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, until we have a motive or we really have a clear, something clear evidentiary based on that motive. I just don't want to weigh in on that right now. We have not ruled out terrorism.

BLACKWELL: The massacre began around 11 a.m. at the Inland Regional Center. Authorities say the county's health department was having a holiday party at the time. Police say Farook was an inspector for the department. He abruptly left the holiday party after a dispute and came back, they think, alongside Malik, opening fire.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I heard rapid shooting. Just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

BLACKWELL: Armed with AR-15-style rifles and two semiautomatic handguns, investigators say the suspects came equipped, dressed in tactical gear. Family members receiving gut-wrenching messages from loved ones that an active shooting was taking place.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Shooting at my work. People shot. In the office, waiting for cops."

BLACKWELL: This was the frightening scene inside.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you ready? If you're not cool, I'm not walking it (ph).

BLACKWELL: Dozens of employees being led to safety by police officers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Try to relax. Try to relax. I'll take a bullet before you do, that's for damn sure.

BLACKWELL: The shooters killing 14, wounding 17 more. The pair fleeing in a black SUV, prompting police, FBI and SWAT teams to launch a massive manhunt. Hours later, a tip leading authorities to the Redlands home, where they spotted a suspicious SUV, resulting in a wild police chase.

About two miles from the Inland Regional Center police engage in a bloody shoot-out with this black SUV. Both suspects now dead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's your exact location?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're at San Bernardino and Shedden. San Bernardino and Shedden. We see one guy down. One guy in the back of a car. Going to need that BearCat.

BLACKWELL: Law enforcement sources tell CNN Farook is a U.S. citizen, and a relative says he and Malik had had a 6-month-old baby girl. His father-in-law was at a loss for words.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why would he do something like this? I have absolutely no idea. I'm in shock myself.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Now, Chris, there was a moment overnight, in which investigators pushed all the media crews back. We do not know specifically why they were pushed so far away. That ended after a short period.

The home is quiet now. But of course, those evidence collection teams will be back at the home, trying to answer several questions, of course, why, what is the motive in this case. And, were there other people who were involved? Of course, police confident there were only two shooters, but was there a support network behind them? Those questions still yet to be answered, Chris.

CUOMO: And Victor, the discovery of those explosive devices at the scene, fueling a big part of that speculation, as well. Thank you for the reporting. We'll check back with you in just a little bit.

Now, a lot of what makes this event so unique is how it ended. The shoot-out. The quick police work that led them to this SUV that just happened to drive by as officers arrived at the scene. And you saw what it culminated in.

Well, we're getting more video of that gun fight that was observed by people who were just living in and around there on the street. Cell phone video posted on Facebook by a local resident. Now, we vetted it. We went through it. It's the first time we're showing it to you. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

(SIRENS)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED), guys. Shots rang out. (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

(GUNFIRE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my gosh.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guys, they're just at my house right now. There's cops all over the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) yard. Holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Guys, I'll just try to show -- (EXPLETIVE DELETED) no way.

(SIRENS)

(GUNFIRE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My house is getting shot at right now. Holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

(GUNFIRE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get back.

(SIRENS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:05:10] CUOMO: That video tells the story. Right? Not much reason to narrate over it. You could see how drawing it was to the kid taking the video. All those shells that you hear, all those rounds being fired, you have to remember according to authorities, you had at least 21 police officers that wound up responding to that shoot-out. And they were at first receiving fire. They were taking fire from the people in the car. So that was the scene that went down here in San Bernardino outside it that wound up ending this.

Now, by all indications, this mass shooting was planned. Why? Well, every detail of it suggests that, starting from what happened with how they handed off the baby, these two suspects, to the man's mother. The way they were dressed and everything else. So, let's take you through it with CNN's Jim Sciutto. He's live in Washington. He's been working this all night long. The latest on this investigation.

As obvious as this may seem from the video, Jim, as you well know, the investigators are very slow. They're not necessarily confused. But they believe that there are a lot that remains unknown here.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Chris. They're being very careful, certainly, about motive, motivation here. But I'll tell you, we were in Paris just a couple of weeks ago. It took days to figure out the identities of those shooters, those attackers. Here, we're getting details very quickly on these shooters.

Let's go through what we know right now. Syed Rizwan Farook, he's 28 years old. He worked at that Inland Regional Center. In fact, he was at that holiday party earlier in the day, his colleagues say. He was an environmental specialist in the Public Health Division.

This is interesting, particularly unusual. Tashfeen Malik, 27 years old. We're told by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, quoting his family, that she was married to Farook, a husband and wife, a man and a woman, as the joint shooters, extremely unusual in active shooter situations in the United States. There was a third person detained. Police have not established if there's any connection there.

But here's one more detail that "The L.A. Times" is reporting this morning. And that is that Farook traveled to Saudi Arabia within the last several weeks. No sense now of the importance of that, but that could become an important detail as we move on.

Let's go through some of the other details we know about him, because he had a dating profile posted which described his personality. He said he was religious, but a modern family of four. He says he identifies as Muslim but with an eastern and western mix of family values. And, just some personal details, he put on there he enjoys target practice in his backyard. Again, we don't know the significance of that yet, but as you see these details, Chris, come out now, could have significance as the investigation goes forward.

Let's talk about what we're learning about the weapons used in this attack. And this is key. Because you and I have talked about this from very early on, law enforcement officials saying this -- this was a planned attack. There were two 223-caliber assault rifles. These are AR-15s. They can be automatic or semi-automatic. There were also semi-automatic handguns. Again, these are going to be details key as we move on in the investigation.

The handguns legally purchased by Farook. The rifles purchased by someone else, legally, but believed to have no -- that person believed to have no connection to this attack. That's how they got their weapons.

Let's talk about another thing, interesting and different about this. Police believe there were explosives involved. They didn't work, but there were explosives involved.

The bag discovered at the site of the shooting at the Inland Revenue [SIC] -- Inland Regional facility contained explosive devices rigged to a remote-control car. A toy. Rigged to that toy. They found later in the SUV the detonating device. Either they didn't use it or it didn't work because of distance.

But these attackers, Chris, planned to unleash more havoc, not just with their weapons, but with those explosives. Thankfully, they were not used in the end.

I'll tell you, from the beginning, Chris, speaking to counterterror officials, law enforcement officials, they say you look at all these things: multiple shooters, the weapons that they had, this speaks to forward planning. They don't know the motive, but to them, very early on, it didn't look like a crime of passion.

But then you have this confusion, because he was at that holiday party. There's talk of a possible dispute. He leaves; he comes back. But I'll tell you, Chris, you and I have covered a lot of these things. Crimes of passion, very rarely do you then have all the weapons stashed. You come up in tactical military gear. You have an escape plan, et cetera. I mean, these are hard questions that got to be answered. CUOMO: There's no question about it. And it's been very tough

for these guys from the beginning. Remember, they got a call that this was at a developmental center. There have people who are developmentally challenged in there, many of them receiving the help from hundreds of staff. They didn't know if it was one of them or if it was a workplace shooting that way.

Then they found out about what was going on in the convention center, that it was actually the county mental health agency was in there. Who would target them? And then they found out about how this man left. So there's so many different permutations of fact they've been dealing with, processing overnight. And you're right: they got a lot done very quickly here. Jim Sciutto, thank you much. We'll be back with you in a little bit.

[06:10:08] Let's bring in now retired Chief Jim Bueermann. He's the former police chief of Redlands, California. He's also now the president of the police foundation in D.C.

Chief, I'm sorry to have to be talking to you under these circumstances, but the nature of the police work here so pivotal to bringing this to this conclusion. You heard what I was just talking about with Jim there. This started off very confusing. A call to the developmental center, somebody targeting some kids with autism or something like that. Then you find out it's the health -- the county health department. That doesn't make sense.

What were the steps in the police having to figure out how to get their hands around this?

CHIEF JIM BUEERMANN (RET.), FORMER POLICE CHIEF, REDLANDS, CALIFORNIA: So the first thing that's going to happen is they're going to respond as fast as they can. They've got an active shooter situation. They don't know what they're going to be facing until they get there. When they get there it's completely chaotic. They're going to try to sort things out as fast as they can.

They've got people that are wounded. They've got people that are completely upset, understandably so. And they're looking for the active shooter. They don't know where this person is or people, you know, in this case.

As this evolves, they've got other scenes to begin to develop. They've got multiple investigations. At the end of the day here, they've got a minimum of three investigative sites: where the shooting originally occurred, where the suspects were shot in the shoot-out, and then the house and rentals. So very complicated.

CUOMO: What is it like for the officer responding at the scene? He's at the home. He's expecting to do some type of door knock, to find out what's going on there, for an SUV to go by with Utah plates, matches what they're looking for, takes off. All of a sudden, they start taking fire from the car. Probably from a semi-automatic handgun. Take us through the process of responding to a call like that and making those decisions. BUEERMANN: So, the officers that were surveilling that

particular residence are on a very heightened awareness state, right? They're very focused on the possibility that the suspects may be in the house or may come by or do whatever.

All of a sudden, the suspects drive by, and their adrenaline -- the officers' adrenaline is going to spike. They're instantly on the radio. They're going to try to get some back-up there. In this particular case, I believe they lost them for a short period of time. Some marked units picked up the suspects, and the pursuit is on.

Those pursuing officers are going to be very, very intent. And it's not too dissimilar to what happens in athletic events. When you have almost a target fixation, you are not going to let them go. And in this case, even though they're being shot at, they're a lot like junkyard dogs. Once they have got their view of those suspects and where they're going, they are not going to stop until this thing ends.

CUOMO: And now, they have every reason to believe that these are the two people that shot up a bunch of innocents. They're taking fire from them.

BUEERMANN: Absolutely.

CUOMO: The BearCats. It's going to be a new term for a lot of people. A Lenco BearCat. Lenco's the company. BearCat is basically an up-armored vehicle that -- you had two in this situation that wound up pinching the vehicle. What was that?

BUEERMANN: Well, they knew that they had at least one of the suspects in that -- that SUV. So what they were trying to do is contain them. So when you watch the video of what the officers are doing, they're using the armor on those vehicles to make sure that, if they start taking fire, they're not going to be wounded.

CUOMO: There also may have been explosives in there, and that would have been their best defense.

BUEERMANN: Right. And -- and they had to put themselves at risk. And you could watch them maneuver those BearCats around as they're doing this, because they had a difficult angle without exposing themselves to try to see what was going on inside. And they didn't know that there were explosives in there. They already knew that there were probably explosives at the original scene. So...

CUOMO: One of the big sources of confusion, is just -- this is news. This fresh information. They're processing dozens of interviews in there. They're talking to the families. The families are giving them nothing. Not to say that there's anything incriminating in that. But that, you know, they're starting from zero.

This doesn't smell like a "I'm pissed off at work. I'm going to come back and do something stupid."

But when you think about terrorism in a situation like this, and there's no question it's not being ruled out, for them not to stay at the scene and fight it out. But then to flee and yet stay in the vicinity, very odd. What does it smell like to you?

BUEERMANN: Well, I don't know. I mean, there's a variety of scenarios that this could be. Why they were heading back during the pursuit, into the same general area. I mean, either they didn't know where they were going or there's a distinct possibility that they were going to try to engage the police at the scene or have a suicide by cop or something. I mean, you don't really know.

And unfortunately, the two people who can tell us this are deceased now, so we don't know. I think the investigators are going to piece things together and come up with a very sound, workable theory about what they think they were doing.

But these things are very chaotic. Right. The pursuit, the people that you are pursuing don't know what they're doing, necessarily. They're desperate to get away. In this case, they're firing at the officers at the same time. So who really knows what they were thinking?

CUOMO: One detail that the local police here keep saying is don't overlook where they got the long guns. We know they were bought legally by someone else. It may have been a roommate. But how did they get them?

You know, you have your own weapons. If they wind up in my hands, you know, you've got a problem. So that's one of the leads they're looking at. And also, the big question is who knew?

Chief, thank you very much for joining us. Appreciate it. And again, sorry it's under these circumstances. If anyone you know is affected, my thoughts go to you.

BUEERMANN: Thank you.

CUOMO: All right. Take care.

[06:15:12] All right. So, we know here that there were a lot wounded. OK. That number was moving around. We still don't know the degree of those injuries. We know at least 17 people are in two different trauma centers. But some got hurt just in the panic in try to get out. All right. So we want to tell you their stories, as well, what it was like to be in there.

And for that we have CNN correspondent Dan Simon. He's live at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, California, one of two that took patients here.

And Dan, this was complicated for them, as well. They were on lockdown a little bit. There was a threat called into one of the hospitals. They were seeing, even though they're a trauma center, these are unusual wounds out of long guns. Tell us about it.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I can tell you, Chris, that both of these hospitals are well-equipped to handle trauma. We are here at the Arrowhead Regional Medical Center. I can tell you that six patients were brought here. One of them has been discharged. We don't know the conditions of the patients who are here, but I can tell you that one of them is a 27-year-old woman who works for the county health department. She was in that banquet hall. She was shot in the lower back. She told family that she was shot while she was trying to protect herself. And we have some sound now from some of those family members.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANIE BALDWIN, SISTER OF SAN BERNARDINO SHOOTING VICTIM: And she just said, "Steph, I was shot." And she was, like, crying, and so, I knew she was serious.

And I was just like, "What happened?"

And she just said she was at a work thing. And the shooters came in. And she was shot. And she was scared. And she said, "I just wanted to tell you that I love you."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: Very dramatic stuff. The victim was 27-year-old Denise Peraza, because she was able to call her family and say that she loved them, obviously, she seems to be in OK condition.

Over at the other hospital, the Loma Linda University Medical Center, five patients there. I can tell you that two of them are in critical but stable condition, two in fair condition, and one patient, at last check, was being assessed, again, because of the confusion and the chaos that surrounded everything yesterday, both hospitals were at heightened security. And security seems to be high, still, at this hour, at both places -- Chris.

CUOMO: You know, and again, with the weapons involved here, those .223 caliber shells, you know, the injuries could be very serious, indeed. And the information on that is slow coming. So again, we treat that with the greatest of respect.

Dan Simon, thank you very much.

Now, again, for context, OK, 14 people taken out in this, their lives snuffed out senselessly, as far as we can understand. That makes this the deadliest mass shooting since what we suffered through in Connecticut. Two people being involved makes it unusual since Columbine. And that is going to bring out reaction from all quarters.

President Obama was dealing with this pretty much in the moment. He was being interviewed by CBS when this was going on. And during it, his mind took him to a call for tougher gun laws, urging bipartisan support to close loopholes. He said that is the way to stop what he sees as senseless violence. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have a pattern now of mass shootings in this country that has no parallel anywhere else in the world. We should never think that this is something that just happens in the ordinary course of events, because it doesn't happen with the same frequency in other countries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Now, also important to say who's responding here, Muslim- American leaders. They've been coming out, condemning the horrific act here in San Bernardino, including one of the gunman's own family members, his brother-in-law. So the question becomes, is could this rampage create anti-Muslim backlash? We're going to talk about that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:22:55] CUOMO: We are here in San Bernardino, California, certainly, following breaking news. A very active investigation after the deadliest mass shooting since Newtown, Connecticut, in the United States. Fourteen people murdered.

Now, officials are not ruling out terrorism. But word that the suspects were Muslim, of course, fuels suspicion that it is, indeed, terrorism. So what do Muslim leaders say about what happened here?

CNN's John Vause talked with Hussam Ayloush. He's the executive director of the Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. He also spoke with the shooter's brother-in-law and got a sense of what this is, and here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Clearly right now, everybody is searching for a motive in all of this. I know that you have come out and condemned this attack. But clearly, you've spoken to the family. We have heard from Syed Farook's brother-in-law. What more can you tell us?

HUSSAM AYLOUSH, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, L.A. CHAPTER OF CAIR: Well, I mean, of course, we don't know the motives, and then the family is devastated like all Americans today. They're filled with sorrow and mourning. And then we express on their behalf their heartfelt condolences to all the families who -- of the victims, and injured and killed.

And just pray for whoever is responsible to pay the price for it. The family is devastated like all people. And this is the time for us to express solidarity among all of us Americans, in rejecting whatever the motives might have been. There's absolutely no justification for such horrendous behavior.

VAUSE: Have you had a chance to speak at any length with the family of Syed Farook? And if there was any indication -- I mean, we heard from the brother-in-law saying no one expected this. He had just spoken to him a week ago. What else had the family been saying to you?

AYLOUSH: I spoke with them. They're as shocked as anybody else. They have no clue that this could happen. They -- you know, this is -- the suspect is married, has a 6-month-old baby. You wouldn't expect -- you know, they have no reason what made him snap.

[06:25:05] It's just -- is it workforce, workplace related? Is it mental? Is it some twisted ideology that's really unknown to us? All they can do now is just share with everybody's soul and then prayers that -- that this is over quickly. And then that the pain and suffering of all these families is eased.

VAUSE: You're very quick to come out and hold a news conference, even had Syed Farook's brother-in-law to talk about this. Explain to me why you took that action.

AYLOUSH: Well, because we're living in a very difficult time. There's a lot of struggle for you there. There's a lot of anti-Muslim sentiment fueled by pundits here and there, trying to blame a whole community for the acts of a few.

You know, again, we're just still mourning as a nation after what happened in Colorado Springs by someone who is also responsible for his act. Not the Christian community. Not the American community.

Same thing. We felt there was a need for our fellow Americans to know that all American Muslims share with the rest of the country our sorrow today, our shock, and our agony for what happened. It was important for the family. They wanted to make sure that people know how they felt, how devastated they are. And they insisted to being here, although they're going through their sorrow as we speak now. But they drove all the way to be at the office and speak to fellow Americans and say, "We are -- today, we're all victims today. We stand united in our sorrow, and the only way we can come through this is through our solidarity."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: John Vause, CNN anchor, getting a key interview there. But, look, there's no denying the suspicion. As soon as word came out that police believed they had the two shooters and that they were identified as Muslims, this did wind up setting up as what feels like another potential terror attack.

Now, investigators are slow on that. Why? Because it is early. And they don't know motive, because there was no note. And when they went to the family, they couldn't get any definitive information from them or any closely-known associates about what was going on with these two.

We do know that the story doesn't add up to be a spontaneous workplace type of combustible violence. Why? Because of what they did with their kid. They gave it to the mom. They gave a bogus story about having a doctor's appointment, according to family.

Because of how they were dressed, the weapons that they had, the explosive device. Certainly, that's not something that you can come up with quickly.

So the question becomes what is behind the motive, and where are investigators headed next? We'll take you through it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)