Photo taken on Dec. 2, 2015 shows the Inland Regional Center where a shooting occured in San Bernardino City of Southern California, the United States. (Photo: Xinhua/Yang Lei)
At least 14 people were killed and 14 others injured in a shooting Wednesday in San Bernardino City of Southern California and up to three shooters are still active, police said.
San Bernardino police chief Jarrod Burguan said at a press conference that the fatalties are preliminary. The suspects may still be inside the Inland Regional Center Building where the shooting happened. Police are stilll searching door by door to clear the building.
There were several hundred people inside the building when the shooting happened and most of them walked out unhurt.
The identity and motivation of the shooters are still under investigation.
San Bernardino County Sheriff John MacMahon said that as there might be one or more suspects fled by a black SUV, the nearby region are under search and on alert.
"We will do everything to keep public safe," MacMahon said.
Assistant Director of FBI David Boudich said that it is still not clear whether the shooting is a terrorist attack or not.
The San Bernardino Police Department got reports about mutiple shootings at 10:59 a.m. local time (1859 GMT).
Sgt. Vicki Cervantes, a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino Police Department, said that the suspect or suspects are heavily armed and were wearing ski masks and possibly body armor.
The shooters burst into a conference room where a Christmas party was held and started shooting.
The center is a non-profit organization offering services to individuals with developmental disabilities. It has about 670 employees and serve 3,000 families. The three-floor pink building was not far from the busy highway 10.
Families who received text messages from their loved ones in the building rushed to the scene. They can wait or renunite with their loved ones in a building nearby.
Helicopters are seen hovering above the area.
U.S. President Barack Obama was briefed about the shooting by Homeland Securities officials and he called for a bipartisan effort "at every level of government" to address mass shooting problems, local media reported.
