Gang shoots 14 dead in US disabled centre rampage
UP TO 14 people were reported dead last night after a masked gun gang dressed in military gear went on a rampage during a staff Christmas party at a treatment centre for the disabled.
At least 14 others were injured during the attack in San Bernardino, California, and police were hunting up to three heavily armed gunmen.
Police confirmed that there had been a number of fatalities but would not officially say how many. The injured were being treated at a makeshift trauma area nearby.
A man whose wife worked at the centre said at least one gunman walked into the building and opened fire. His wife was able to lock herself in her office. ‘They saw bodies on the floor,’ he added.
The Inland Regional Centre, a non-profit organisation for people with disabilities, was on lockdown after the 11am attack. Police were worried that explosives may have been planted in the building and were conducting room-to-room searches.
About half an hour after the incident, The New York Times reported that an officer radioed: ‘ They just found another room with more victims.’
No one had been arrested last night and the FBI and anti-terrorist police were trying to determine how many gunmen were involved.
A law enforcement source said: ‘If it is a lone-wolf shooter, it’s more likely to be connected to the development centre, but if it turns out to be two or more, there is a possibility that the motive could be linked to terrorism.’
Sources say the attack happened at a Christmas party for employees. A centre official said: ‘There was an event in the conference centre and that’s where we’re hearing the shooting took place.’ The shooting came less than a week after President Barack Obama warned he was considering tightening controls on ‘weapons of war’ after a gunman killed three people and wounded nine more at a planned parenthood facility in Colo
‘We can’t let it become normal’
rado. ‘This is not normal,’ Mr Obama said. ‘We can’t let it become normal.
‘If we truly care about this – if we’re going to offer up our thoughts and prayers again, for God knows how many times, with a truly clean conscience – then we have to do something about the easy accessibility of weapons of war on our streets to people who have no business wielding them. Period. Enough is enough.’
After yesterday’s shooting, workers at law enforcement offices next door to the centre were told to lock their doors and stay where they were as SWAT officers searched the area.
Hundreds of employees were inside the centre when the shots were fired.
One woman texted her father saying she was hiding in a closet and could hear gunmen shooting outside. Choking back tears, Terry Petit said she wrote: ‘People shot. In the office waiting for cops. Pray for us. I am locked in an office.’ She later escaped unhurt.
Police searched people filing out of a building with their hands up before they were reunited with loved ones.
Officers confirmed that the attackers were wearing ‘tactical gear’.