this is al jazeera breaking news, are you are looking at a live picture from san bernadino, california, where police say four hours ago up it three gunmen entered a facility, a social services building in the city and opened fire on a conference center, police say at least 14 people have been killed, another 14 were injured. police say the gunmen, plural, gunmen, fled the scene before police got there. the gunmen are believed to have fled in a black s.u.v. there was a massive search under way in san bernadino and surrounding areas, san bernadino is about 60 miles east of los angeles. the department. homeland security, the fbi, the atf. all the federal agencies are involved. police say they did not know if

this was a terrorist incident, i think it is fair to describe this as a staged assault, based on the public information police have released already. there have been incredible reaction from across the united states, but also in san bernadino, california where the shooting happened we spoke to some people early today with people about what happened in their city. watch. >> i think it's time for us just to unite and come together. and we can't any longer just hear about these things happening and not feel a call to action. there is something that we have do. we have to make sure that social services are being offered to people with mental diseases. we have to headach make shower e erasing discrimination not just in our police forces but cities and neighborhoods, just get back to being a community of people. >> that pastor spoke to us, to al jazeera from a police station which has actually become significant in terms of the efforts by police in the san bernadino area to try to collect information that may provide

leads to the black s.u.v. that police are looking for. joining us with more on that is al jazeera's jennifer london who joins us by phone from san bernadino where the latest. jennifer. >> reporter: david, you said it when you said there is a massive manhunt underway for what is believed to be three gunmen who entered the inland regional center earlier today and opened fire. we know from police that, as you said, 14 people are dead. at least 14 are wounded. we don't know if the -- if the casualty numbers will increase at this time. we don't know the extent of the injuries of those that are wounded. we know that they have been taken to local area hospitals. police say that they don't really have any information on the shooters. other than they were armed. the police said they came looking like they were on a mission. they had long guns as opposed to handguns, witnesses say they were wearing ski masks and had protective vests on. police say they don't know what

their motive is. they believe they fled the scene in a black s.u.v. and we know at least one location close to where the shooting occurred police, it's a gas station, went in to that facility and asked for any surveillance footage that might show the street, so perhaps they could catch a glimpse of this karas it was fleeing. police say because these suspects have not been caught, courts, county buildings are on lockdown. law enforcement has been dispatch today schools and offices. they have said at a minimum this is a domestic terrorist incident. >> describe what you are seeing from your vantage point in an bernadino right now. as of an hour police described as aspects and agents and equipment inside this inland regional center looking at some, what might have been backpacks or device that his they fear could have been explosive devices has that been cleaned up

and they are satisfied there is nothing left that needs to be done in there as far as any potential threats? >> reporter: the prim iter where the shooting occurred has been widened. what i mean is they have asked people around the scene, and that includes the media, to basically move away. so they have asked the media to move away to a staging area which is where we are now. we know from the police and sheriff's press conference that happened less than an hour ago they were still trying to clear out the building. there were reports that there was something something that looked suspicion us that could possibly be an explosive device, they were looking at that. at this time they said they had not recovered any weapons. but, again, the police, all the law enforcement stressing here this is an ongoing situation and there are a lot of moving parts and, you know, information is changing almost minute by minute. >> and by the way, we are going

to have another press conference from law enforcement officials in san perso bernadino with the latestal we expect they may update the number of fatalities which currently stands at 14. in addition, there is a lot of concerns in southern california as we speak with jennifer london about this possible vehicle, a black s.u.v. and what police may be able to know about that particular vehicle. whether they have been able to collect anymore information from the scene or surveillance tapes that might give them new information about who might have carried this out. jennifer, do you have a sense -- first of all, the mood in southern california. this isn't just some sort of random mass shooting it's the kind of sort of thing where everybody must be sort of gripped by the idea, okay, somewhere in southern california might be these people who are involved in a massacre. >> reporter: well, and you are right when you say it's not a random mass shooting because the

police say that it looks as if this building was targeted. because of eyewitnesses reporting the way the men were dressed. they went directly to this building. the suspects i should say. the way they were dressed. they went directly to this building with a sense of purpose as it's been described. armed, heavily armed. and they had a get away car and they were able to evade police. and the san bernadino sheriff's department was among the -- the fire department was among the first responders treating those wounded lying in the street bleeding from being shot. and police, local and state immediately descended on the scene to try and lock it down, yet somehow these three suspects were able to get away which is another indication police are saying that it was not random. that it was planned. and it was well thought out. and thus they have this get away car. and when you talk about mass shootings, of course everybody in southern california were

devastated by what was happening in paris. but yet that also seems very far away. and yet when it hits home for the people here in san bernadine on and in southern california ad in fact the entire country people are in disbelief i would never have thought it would happen in paris, i would never thought it would happen eight movie near the colorado or a school. but i never thought it would happen here in san bernadino. and because at this time there is simply no motive and so little known about the suspect it's creating perhaps a greater sense of fear because of what is not known. >> and, in fact, it's such a great point in terms of people thinking about paris, the great different, of course, from paris and the united states is that there are a lot more counter intelligence assets already in place in the united states to try to pick up organized attacks before they take place. and so part of what the federal

government will be doing now, and has been doing for the past couple of hours is going through their are all their signals and intelligence assets and the media and trying to determine on the internet media to try to determine well, is it possible that there was some sign that this was going to happen or has there been some sort of chatter. jennifer, i wonder because we have heard it a couple of times over the past few hours about how well equipped the san bernadino swat teams tour deal with these sort of environments and unfortunately it seems like they got there too late to have any sort of exchange with the shooters involved, but assuming that law enforcement is able to identify who might have been involved in this and, there would be another advantage or another time when they might try to storm a particular facility somewhere in southern california, how well integrated have law enforcement agencies become in southern california in this sort of post 9/11 era? >> reporter: there is a lot more collaboration, there is a lot more inter agencies working

together. when this shooting occurred, it was the local san bernadino police and city fire that responded immediately. but very shortly after you had atf agents from the los angeles field office in san bernadino. you had agents from the fbi field office in los angeles in san bernadino. we are now hearing that there will be in addition to the state authorities, federal authorities are involved in this. and there is -- there is a sense that in this post 9/11 world where mass shootings are becoming more and more frequent, that the agencies have come up with plans for this very thing and how they interact. so there is not, you know, a miscommunication between the state agency and a local agency and who is in charge and you know, the -- there is a lot more interconnectedness if you will among the first responders and state agencies and federal

agencies. >> jennifer london reporting from los angeles. jennifer, thank you very much. i want to see if we can figure out what may be going on here in the live picture. it looks like, and lou i'll defer to you, but it it looks like perhaps an officer getting out of a bomb proof sort of outfit that they would wear if they were checking out i.d i.d. es, there is an officer on the ground getting out of some equipment or perhaps maybe discovered on the ground there? >> yeah. >> i am trying to discern what is going on there. there is some activity separate and apart from the incident today. and the officer on the ground he half sustained an injury. he doesn't seem to be moving. they do not seem to be removing any gear from his person and they are apparently on their radios.

>> i guess it could be practice perhaps in terms of canvassing the area of san bernadino, maybe there was some indication that the s.u.v. might have been there or maybe there was some piece of evidence related to it that they have found? but, again, that is not -- that is in a different -- that live picture is a very different -- that's not the area where this inland regional certainty took place. >> that's what i was saying. i was noting in you scrutinize this a little bit. there is apparently a traffic accident that took place at this intersection if you continue to view this, there seems to be materials where radio cars, where marked radio cars were that had debris that was disbursed along the roadway. and i don't know what the connection is between that and the officer that's in the other frame where he has a number of police officers standing around him. i would glean from this that he's possibly sustained an injury, it does not appear they are removing any type of equipment. >> it also looks like this is

familiar for people used to watching police chases, so this may be totally unrelated to all of this. but, again, we are sort of in this heightened sensitivity time now where any sort of police vehicle moving quickly down the road, and, again, there is a police vehicle moving quickly there. makes you think, okay, police are perhaps chasing something or onto something. and, again, this is a different part of san bernadino than where the shooting took place, so look, this is a reality of southern california, that you have so many news organizations with helicopter that his can pick up police chases or police activity and that may be simply what this is, but nonetheless a lot of people, including the media a edge about whatever they may be seeing. and at least it would look like there is a vehicle there that's moving pretty quickly for whatever reason has caught the attention of a local news helicopter. which is following them to try to figure out what this is. and because this is san bernadino, there is a lot of

sensitivity to this. but for all we know this is just somebody who may be going home or returning from work, so let's move on, we'll keep an eye on the aerial images come in and if anything particularly strange jumps out at us we'll of course get back to it, but joining us via skype from philadelphia a retired washington, d.c. police officer. i want to get your sense about where you think all of this is going and this happened, 14 people killed, 14 injured, three shooters, police believe the shooters fled the scene in a black s.u.v. the facility that was shot is a social services building. 60 miles east of los angeles. you put all this together and what jumps out in your mind? >> well, as you eluded, to i am a former d.c. police officer. we dealt with the d.c. sniper case and there was a lot of information that flowed in and a number of information turned out to be false. so what police need to do on the

scene is to weed out exactly what is going on, what occurred, and the steps forward. so did they leave in a black s.u.v., did they not? they need to did he sever that. this is a methodical attempt. this is another act on domestic soil of an active shooter incidents. so this is an unfortunate series of events, but what the police need to do is slow things down, take methodical steps, and create that investigation timeline of exactly what occurred so they can figure out why, who, what, where, when, why. >> i want to interrupt you, on one of the feeds we are getting now. this is live coming in from abc seven from los angeles police have pulled out -- have pulled over a black s.u.v. in san bernadino. you can see it there in the foreground, there is a police officer -- there is a marked cruiser off to the side. you can see police moving up through a yard to try to get a closer look. and, again, this is at least this is not near where the

police -- where the shooting happened earlier, this is some distance a wears, but there have been for the last few howard, there has been an all points bulletin for police to be on the look out for a black s.u.v. and whatever it is that the police are seeing now, has them concerned. because when they have zoomed in, you have seen police officers crouched behind the door of their vehicle. the armed police crewser cruised there are people moving in and there is great deal of concern and people moving away. question is, what is this police -- what is this vehicle. it would look like that this is a vehicle that has been perhaps abandoned. and it also would look like there are lots of park marks on the windshield which could be a bunch of different things, but clearly look likes there has been a shootout involve that go black s.u.v. the glass has been shot out the question is was going on.

this is coming in live from san bernadino, california think i am and our control room -- we are getting reports of one suspect down. this is according to abc. one suspect down. this would appear, then, to be perhaps the -- a black s.u.v. that caught police attention. and clearly there is some sort of standoff going on now. again, an s.u.v. there in san bernadino, california, this was a vehicle that police were looking for. you can see this playing out live. as police are in the front yard of a nearby vehicle. and there a police officer holding a weapon train odd that black s.u.v. so this is unfolding as we speak. and the reason this is so significant is earlier today police said that they were looking for a black s.u.v. that they believe was the get away car. a black gmc yukon that they believe was the get away car. when you look up closely and joe, i will defer to you it looked like the windows were shot out.

the glass has been shattered in that vehicle. >> it appears as if there were some gunshots direc directed tos the windshield and possibly the left front tire looks lie it may be a little low. the thing that i find interesting is that the law enforcement agents that are in proximity to this vehicle or not converge on the grounds vehicle either from the front side or rear. i will have to say one thing, this incident occurred approximately 3 1/2 hours ago. i would be shocked if this vehicle was still in proximity of the shooting. and the one thing do i want to mention, and i have familiar a air at this with this area because i have had a home and office in los angeles for about 26 years, there are many freeways that they could -- >> sure. >> hop onto there. there is the 60, the pamona, a number of freeways, the 10 freeway. there are a number of major arteries that woo lend them the ability to escape this scene. we have to first figure out is this even connected to i think did he want earlier in the day

or is this a separate incident involving a individual that may be involved in a robbery in the community, for example. >> there are just reports, again just reports not confirmed that a suspect has been hit by police gunfire. it is not clear if that's related to the live scene we are watching unfold now. but police deeply concerned about the black s.u.v. that they are their guns and weapons trained on right now. and let's assume, joe, that there is somebody perhaps still in that vehicle, perhaps maybe more than one person, what is the standard -- >> or that the vehicle is rigged with explosives, that could be another consideration which is why they are not approaching it. but at this point, what they are going to do, david is they will probably call in their technology mechanism toll approach this vehicle to identify whether or not it has any -- >> by technology mechanism you mean a robot. >> yeah, or -- >> a robot that whiff give them

a closer look. >> something out mated that puts the police vehicles at minimal rick. it looks as if the back window is -- i don't there is no reflection. >> it looks like flat tires perhaps or a flat tire. >> yeah, the left front tire is the one i spoke to immediately. looks like the left rear is deflated. >> the windshield wiper is on but looks like the glass have been blown out on the driver side window there. >> yeah. >> fracas tactically through a situation like this. let's, you know, let's assume for the sake that place believe there is something to this s.u.v. that play be related to the shooting. how does this unfold. what are the police tactics in addition to bringing in a robot that might be able to take a closer look? do they exchange some sort of communication -- >> what they are doing is giving commands to the individual or individuals in that vehicle, number one. the other thing that they are doing immediately is creating a perimeter around that to minimize collateral damage and

in addition, they should be calling in the fire department, hahasmat all the resources that were present at the earlier se seen. there is the vehicle that you were talking about, armored vehicle that would come in to pro happens pro right described a closer look. is anyone in the control room monitoring this can you give us an idea of where this is. and we should alert our viewers we have this on a 10-second delay in case there is anything graphic or inappropriate. we'll pull out of it. so we'll do what we can our best. describe what you are seeing. >> those three vehicles that we see closest in proximity to it. including the one rolling up those are all tactical vehicles, no question that at least two of those are hardened the one at the top of the screen i am not completely sure if that's a hardened vehicle but the other two are hardened as you can see the law enforcement agents are

taking shelter or cover behind those vehicles. and they are probably still attempting to address if anyone is in that vehicle or to identify whether or not that vehicle may contain he is pollution i have devices. >> the place are moving quick i from one vehicle to next because of the assumption that these shooters may still have their long weapons or long rifles in that vehicle and could pose a threat even if shots have already been exchanged. it does like lib emile terrized vehicle and people dressed in military camouflage that are in that. >> funny you should mention that, we have spoken to the demill tiedemilitarization of ow enforcement agents. this is a real examine why there is a direct knee. that is a military style vehicle that is a tactical response unit huddled alongside of it trying to manage this situation and as i can say, i will tell you they

are attempting to engage in dialogue with anybody in that vehicle. >> we are going to big box, little box, keep a live picture from the scene with the s.u.v. but put nay little box the press conference where they may be describing what's going on, let's listen. >> that was possibly at the regional -- inland regional center today. that telephone number is 8637 -- 1(800)637-6653. we are asking for anybody at this facility call this telephone -- who has family at this facility to call this telephone number person and the person will ad vice you where you need to go. [ audio difficulties ] >> we are getting -- we were getting a little bit of break up from the news conference they were providing the information number, again, you are looking at another scene in san bernadino. if you are just joining us 14 people were killed today in a building that helps with certainly services, police were on the look out for three suspect that they believe fled in a black s.u.v. and clearly

there is a black s.u.v. there that has prompted police to take extreme precaution in how they approach it. police with their guns drawn. it appears as if the windows have been shot at in that black s.u.v. police have a tactical armored vehicle rolling closer, let's leave the picture up but we'll try to bring you the audio from the news conference in case it provides any information about what is unfolding live that we are seeing here. >> this means that there are not more at this point. >> how far away from here is that? >> probably a couple of miles from here. >> reporter: so, sergeant, please complete once again there is an active scene related possibly to this mass shooting earlier. what is going on? >> the only thing i know is there were shots fired. officers were involved. and there is a suspect down. whether it's represented or not, we don't know yet. we will update you as we told you we will update you on the hour. we will remain out here.

and we will update you as soon as we get any additional, hopefully within the hour. >> reporter: were any officers hit in the exchange of gunfire? >> i cannot confirm that. i know that all officers are okay. whether or not they were instruction, i don't know. >> reporter: what led you to this s.u.v.? >> i couldn't tell you that at this point either. this is such an active, fluid investigation, there are somas specs to it. and we just don't have all of that information at this time. >> reporter: is there a suspect on the run right now? >> that i don't know. >> reporter: is the building clear? we saw the school buses go by. who was in the buss and is the building now secured? >> that, i don't know. it is my assumption that witnesses and victims were in those buses. but i don't know if the building is completely cleared yet. >> reporter: what about the condition of the victims at the hospital. how many people are hospitalized as far as you know? and what generally if you can tell us what their conditions

are. are there any gravely critical? >> i have heard that they range from minor injuries from -- that occurred while falling down trying to escape. and they go up as high as gunshot wounds. so i don't know their status. >> reporter: why did the number go up three this hour? were these three people found in the building hiding? where did these three come from? >> i don't know it was an update that the fire department provided us. okay. we'll be back. at -- >> reporter: i heard that there were gun shells found -- >> four clock. >> reporter: is that correct? >> i don't know. >> we'll be back at 4:00 hopefully with some more and all media coverage will be here at this location. >> all right, police in san bernadino in the news conference confirming what is going on on the left side of your screen that is a black s.u.v. an active shooting scene is how they just described that. and that how a suspect has been shot and is down. a suspect in the shooting from four hours earlier today in

which police believe three different shooters armed with long weapons, long guns, opened fire on a conference center that was part of a campus of a social services administration office complex. again, police confirm that officers have exchanged gunfire with what they are describing as a suspect from that shooting. and that this scene that you are looking at right now is related to, they suspect may be related to what happened earlier today but they are saying that a suspect has been shot. the police have exchanged gunfire with the suspect. which would explain, of course, the pockmarks that we saw earlier when there was a tight shot of the s.u.v. looked like shots on the windshield and that a passenger and driver side window had been shot out as well as the back and in addition to tires being blown out. but there we can see tactical units much closer to the s.u.v., they gave it a tap a identify minutes ago and we are join ed

in studio by lou. lou, retired detective from nassau, new york, lou, explain what's going on here tactically right now again, we can see the police still using their vehicles to pro themselves. them text themselves -- protect themselves. what would be the point of tapping the vehicle with one of these? >> that's an interesting question. that's a unique technique as far as attempting to see if the vehicle, for example, might detonate. i suspect that there is still an occupant in this vehicle and based on the prompt immaterial at this of the law enforcement agents in the street that are seeking cover between -- behind these hardens vehicles they are probably either engaged in some form of dialogue with this individual who may be armed or trying to determine whether or not this vehicle as i said earlier, contains any types of explosives. they have got it pinned in, front and rear, with tactical hardened vehicles. now, we have a dog coming onto the scene. see the dog off to the top left

of the scene. >> right. >> more than likely a bomb dog. and i suspect at some point in time they are going introduce him in to the scene. >> tough to see, by, again, if you are looking at the s.u.v. and the police vehicle sort of facing it and off behind just behind next to them is a dog. >> a bomb dog at the very top -- top of the highest point and left part of the scene, you can see the dog. >> the bomb dog with sniff out if there were any explosive in the s.u.v. >> absolutely. >> and that might help. one would also assume by now at least the police there would know whether there is just one suspect or one person in this s.u.v. or others. and, again, the information that we have so far is that police did exchange gunfire with a suspect that san bernadino shootings and this is the scene where they exchanged the gunfire and the question now is are there other people in this s.u.v. and again to remind people we are on a 10-second delay here in case anything

inappropriate or graphic happens we'll get out of it. but go ahead. >> the thing i want to mention to you, david is that the tactical officers that are deployed to the scene have optics. in other words, the reason i am comfortable saying this there is obviously an occupant in the vehicle is because they are able through their optics attached to their rifles able to see and it magnifies for them in their field of view anyone that may have been in that vehicle and as you can see, law enforcement community is continue to go creep up now on the passenger side of the vehicle that's off the front end of the vehicle. >> and this is critical not just in materials of putting down a suspect here, but they want to make sure that whatever information they can glean from the s.u.v., if there is anybody else inside, obviously if there is only one suspect that's in this s.u.v. or a couple of others that may be at large, this may be one of their best chances to get information about who else was involved in this and how they got their help. >> correct. especially if weapons that are in that vehicle were weapons that were used at that crime

scene, at the facility. joining us in studio as we watch this is darren porcher a retired new york police department officer. darren, good to have you back with us. >> glad to be here. >> as always glad to see you. first of all the scene we are seeing playing on you. the three suspects that allegedly killed 14 people today. and how do you describe what is described as an active scene a few miles away? >> it is an interesting scene, and one of the things that i have yet to see is a robot deployed in this particular instance >> david: speaking from a tactical perspective, i'm going to be observant of the crossfire and make sure that nobody can get hit in the crossfire. and when i look at the confat