>> if you're away from the t.v., you can get more on our top stories, including the latest on that relationship spat between moscow and ankara on aljazeera.com and what's going on in the skies over syria. aljazeera.com, you can also talk to me on twitter. [ siren ] >> searching for a motive after the worst mass shooting in america since new town leaves 14 dead. >> why would he do that? why would he do something like this? >> police want to know what led a young couple to caulk into a social services agency and open fire. >> common sense gun safety laws, stronger background checks. >> now president obama is calling once again for changes in how america deals with guns.

>> this is aljazeera america live from new york city. i'm stephanie sy. >> san bernardino california is waking up to big questions this morning after the shooting that left 14 people dead. police say 28-year-old sayed farook and 27-year-old tashfeen malik opened fire in a party. police later tracked them down and had a shootout. witnesses say that farook left that holiday gathering angry but also say the weapons involved point to a planned attack. >> that is precisely what is so confusing. you almost have two narratives and they don't quite fit. first is the fact that police

said these two shooters appeared at the site in tactical gear with all these weapons and of course later on law enforcement did confirm that there were also explosives, as well, things that require preparation and planning, and yet there are also report that is during the actual holiday party, some sort of angry exchange had taken place, suggesting that this was emotionally driven behavior. a lot of things for investigators to work through. it has been a very dramatic 20 hours or so. >> when the attacks began, some people inside the in land regional center thought it was a drill. outside, others, including juan hernandez new they heard gunfire. >> kind of sounded like a shooting range. >> the shooting lasted just a few minutes, but the chaos went on for hours. ambulances and law enforcement officers raced to the location. inside, people sheltered in

offices and sent text messages to friends and family. >> he said the guy shot came in next to her office and i guess started shooting. they locked themselves in, in her office. they seen bodies on the floor and she said right now ambulance are taking people out in stretchers. our daughter's in there. she texted us about 30 minutes ago and said that there was a shooter. she thought he'd shot 10-20 people. >> police evacuated and escorted people out. one survivor described the fear. >> they just started shooting, and people were running everywhere, and he said it was just -- it was like almost like a massacre. >> with the attackers on the loose, officials asked residents to stay home and lock their doors. by mid afternoon wednesday, officers had tracked down two suspects and in a shootout killed one man and one woman.

he was identified as sayed farook and almost immediately, the council on american islamic relations in los angeles condemned the attack, even bringing out a dazed relative of the dead shooter. >> i'm really here on behalf of my family for the victims, it's unbelievable what happened. i am very sad, like deeply sad and shocked that something like this happened here in my community. i love this country. i'm living in this community for a long time, and something like this happened here, and on behalf of my family, we all are shocked and very sorry for what happened. >> late wednesday night, the sheriff's department gave one last update for the day. >> i do have information on what they were armed with. both suspects were armed with what was essentially a .223 caliber assault rifle. one was called a dpms model a15,

the other was a smith and wesson mmp15 model. both suspects were armed with semiautomatic handguns. >> the shooters had such a specific target, a holiday party for county employees, a festive gathering that turned horribly deadly. >> just to add more to what the sheriff said, they did clarify that there are only two suspects, both dead. wednesday afternoon when it was so chaotic there were reports of two or three suspects. police confirmed they are no longer on a man hunt. that is a big relief for the city of san bernardino, although there are questions, somebody was detained and we don't have any details about the circumstances of that particular person. >> when do we expect to hear more about the victims and who they were? >> well, the sheriffs department said they would give their first press conference of the day at local time 9:00 a.m. in the morning. that is noon eastern time, but

they did not indicate what the information they would provide, whether they would provide information about the victims, or just more about what they've learned in investigation is about six to eight hours, thereabouts since they spoke to media last and i assume that they are working 24 hours on this and all night. stephanie. >> melissa chan reporting there from the perimeter of the crime scene, thank you, melissa. as word came in of the shooting in certain better than, president obama responded as he has many times, calling for more action on gun control. during an intervie interview cb, the president said this is a pattern that has no parallel. >> there are steps we could take not to eliminate every one of these mass shootings, but to improve the adds that they don't happen as frequently, common sense gun safety laws, stronger background checks, we have a no-fly list where people can't

get on planes but those same people could go into a store right now in the united states and buy a firearm and there's nothing that we can do to stop them. we should come together in a bipartisan basis at every level of government to make these rare as opposed to normal. >> this is the 15th time president obama has spoken out after a mass shooting in the u.s. >> the shooting in san bernardino wasn't the only one on wednesday. a gunman opened fire in savannah georgia killing one and injuring three. new yorkers against gun violence head told us it's time for washington to act. >> new york tightened its gun laws after sandy hook, a number of states did, in addition to new york, connecticut. we have now a stronger assault weapons ban than we did before. we limit high capacity ammunition magazines. we have licensing and registration for handguns.

we have renewable permits every five years, like a driver's license, gun permit is now renewable in the state. as a result new york, we've done a lot to limit gun accessibility to people who shouldn't have them and our gun death rate reflects that. >> but california had strict gun laws. >> right. >> washington, d.c. was the murder capital of the world. >> people mention chicago, guns are like pollution or cock roaches, you can external nail or protect your little area, but borders are porous, state lines are porous. it's very easy to traffic guns from states where it's very easy to get them. southern states, largely, western states into states like new york, like california. >> the other argument made is that gun control laws may not effectively actively keep guns from get to go bad people. there are so many guns in the country that even the loopholes if they're closed, you could have a black market for guns. >> you are never going to

eliminate gun violence in this country, that's true, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't do everything we possibly can. johns hopkins looked at missouri and connecticut. in missouri, they got rid of background check system for handguns in 2007, and over the next few years, they saw about 25% increase in gun homicides, controlling for other factors. in connecticut, they actually institute a permit to purchase system in 1995 and over that 10 year period, they saw a decline, a significant decline in gun homicides in connecticut. these laws actually do work to keep guns out of the wrong hands, because you know, the n.r.a. argues -- >> and yet we're still having this debate. >> we are still having this debate but change is coming. states and new york and california, leading with any social movement starts in the municipal and state level and moves to the federal levels. they're the lost to get it. >> earlier this week, house

republicans blocked a debate on a bill that would ever closed a loophole allowing suspected terrorists to legally buy weapons. >> mass shoeings have become all too common in the u.s. particularly when compared to other industrialized nations. john henry smith has a look at the numbers. >> these types of shootings they happen more often than you might realizes. on average, americans see more than once a day. 12,000 people have been killed by guns so far this year in america. according to the washington post, there have been 355 mass shootings in the u.s. this year, defined as those in which at least four people get shot and or killed in a single incident. a lot of these crimes do not make the headlines. case in points, since friday's planned parenthood incident in colorado, the country has seen thee mass shootings. one happened in i will pill that there was another in savannah, georgia where one woman was killed and three others shot.

then hours later came the shootings in california. the san bernardino incident is now america's deadliest mass shootings since the 2012 sandy hook school shootings in connecticut. 27 died that day, most of them children. with 14 dead, the can better than shootings qualify as the third deadliest mass shooting in the past 20 years, eclipsed only by sandy hook and the virginia tech massacre of 2007. the president says americans have become numb to these mass shooting attacks. if that's true, the sheer number of them might explain why. back to you. >> john henry smith, thank you. >> when we come back, the latest on the shooting in southern california. police search for a motive in the attack that left 14 people dead and we're finding out more about the shooter. former olympian oscar pistorius may head back to tyson after an appeals court convicts him of murder.

>> half a million fields will lie fallow. >> if we had another year of this severe drought, i'd say all bets are off. >> more now on our top story. first are trying to uncover a motive for wednesday's shooting ram became in san bernardino california where 14 were killed. two suspects, 28-year-old fourth of july and 27-year-old tashfeen malik both were killed in a shootout. >> the presidential candidate started talking about the

shootings almost as soon as it happened. many sent oat thoughts and prayers, that was the phrase they used. so did senate majority mitch mcconnell who said this: >> connecticut democratic senator chris murphy sweeted this: >> hillary clinton wrote: >> joe watkins in a republican strategist and former white house aid to george w. bush and joins us to talk about the politics of this. there are a lot of accusations that that is politicized but people talk about the possible political solutions to incidents like these. >> the idea is to make the country safe and how do we do that. the challenge is to do it in an environment where you've got a 2016 presidential race and

rhetoric at a fever pitch and people trying to get elected and cater to the audiences that are going to elect them. at the end of the day, the hope and prayer is that saner minds will come together and say for the good of the country, let's get this involved, get this fixed. let's get america safe again and do it in a way that doesn't scapegoat anybody. we know there are sharp lines of demarcation in terms of gun control. >> is that a chasm in a will never be bridged or a window for consensus? >> there's a window. if we can get past the strong rhetoric and get past whatever stances people have had in the past and figure out if we concentrate on the issue of safety, how to make our country a safer place, remember, there are other countries that have strict gun control laws, france has strict gun control laws and yet we just saw a terrible massacre take place there a couple of weeks ago.

if we concentrate on how we get that done and republicans and democrats talk about it and not point the finger at each other to gain points with their constituencies, then we have a chance to make progress. >> the paris attacks are an aberration in france. in this country, there are so many mass shootings, the media can't cover all of them. there was one an average a day here. how do republicans square those statistics that show fewer guns mean fewer mass shootings with calls from politicians like trump for more guns. >> there is money involved. con fit wednesdays on both sides supply politicians with the money they need to get elected and give them money based on whether they support the issues that we're talking about. the way you do it, i think, is by ultimately getting to the core problem, which is safety, and it's not a matter of necessarily fewer guns. you can't do away with the

second amendment. you can't say suddenly people don't have the right to bear arms and you can't say to everybody that's got a gun you've got to get ready with your guns, but you've got to figure a way where we are now in 2015 how to make the country safer. how do you change the hearts and minds of people. what causes a person to snap and kill a lot of folks? that's a very, very different issue. >> those are big broad issues. some say they were lower hanging fruit and that does take the--we saw the twitter war about that phrase and a think progress editor called out every lawmaker that tweeted that phrase yesterday. his response to that was him tweeting out how much each of those politicians got from the n.r.a. how much is this publicity on social media negative publicity affecting the credibility of the

republican party on this issue? >> it's a big challenge for the party, it really is. i mean, the hope is that politicians are elected officials are sincere, and that they sincerely want to fix problems, and even if you take money from a lobby, you've got to work hard to fix the problem and call it as you see it. that takes guts and courage. >> do you see that courage, or guts among any of the 2016 presidential candidates in your party? >> we may. time will yet tell. i think the field is probably going to thin out once we get past iowa and new hampshire, but we may see that some guts and some courage from one or more of those candidates. >> where do you see the tipping point as far as these mass shootings from your perspective not only as a republican strategist but leader in the faith community? you're a pastor. >> i'm a pastor. ive to speak every sunday to the hearts of people and i know i don't have long to get their attention and speak to their

heart, but the major message becomes the for giveness message, you've got to for give, you've got to forgive people in the christian religion, we say the prayer that says forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who press pass against us. i preach that constantly. then you can fix things going forward, because then revenge doesn't play. >> do you ever feel like your voice is sort of in a losing battle, given the rhetoric we're seeing these days? >> may be my voice isn't heard enough, maybe there aren't enough people saying that. even if that's the case, we can't stop trying. we've got to try. we've got to try to make this world a better place and for those of us who care to speak out about the truth, we have to try to be heard. >> joe watkins, thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you, stephanie. >> we will continue to bring up the latest on the shooting throughout the morning, including that police briefing expected three ours from now. other stories making headlines

jurors are hearing testimony in the trial of a baltimore police officer, william porter. he is charged with manslaughter in connection with freddie gray's death in april. we are live outside the courthouse. john, what was one of the most surprising things to come out of the opening statements? >> i think the most surprising thing to me was the fact that right off the top, the defense attorney said you will be hearing from officer william g. porter. he will speak. he will testify. you'll be hearing in his own words what he has to say. that's fairly unusual in a defense strategy, because normally, they try to decide as they go along to see how their case is going before they ask a key defendant to testify. we know right off the top, this is going to happen. they're going to say that he's a local lad. he spent two years on the force. he joined the police to help people and they're going to say that when he was asked to check

on freddie gray, there was no sign of a mortal injury. they're going to see there was no evidence of freddie gray breathing. day that freddie gray was suffering from what is known as jailitis, faking an illness in order to avoid going to jail. the big news from the defense is that porter himself will testify. this is all to paint officer porter in a negative light, showing that he was negative inside duty of care towards freddie gray. >> whiz the battle lines drawn. al jazeera's john terrett in baltimore, john, thank you.

>> south african olympian oscar pistorius has been found guilty of murder. an appeals court overturned his earlier manslaughter conviction for killing girlfriend reeva steenkamp in 2013. prosecutors say pistorius intended to kill her. he shot her four times while she was locked in the bathroom. the judge called it a human tragedy. >> when we come back, the search for answers, our continuing coverage of the san bernardino shootings, after this break.

june the latest now on the shooting in san bernardino. officials are not ruling anything out as they investigate a motive behind the attack. 14 people were killed, at least 17 injured. some critically when a couple opened fire during a holiday party. police identified the suspects as 28-year-old sayed farook and 27-year-old tashfeen malik. she is believed to be farook's wife. it may seem there's no end in sight for shootings like these and a pattern seems to be emerging from incidents throughout the country. >> in april of 2012, a student came to this university here in oakland, california and opened fire. he ended up killing seven people with a handgun. why does this keep happening here? why is it that we have so many mass shootings in the united states that we actually have a

leader board for these kinds of events? >> a new study seems to answer that question. >> somebody is outside one of the doors shooting through the door. >> it might seem impossible to pin down any commonality, but the united states offers so many shootings to study, patterns begin to emerge. the study by a university of alabama criminologist identifies mass shootings as a global problem but they are unusually concentrated here in the united states. even though the u.s. accounts for only 5% of the world's population, we somehow account for 31% of the mass shootings that take place. >> the study identifies three major themes, a hunger for attention and glory, the crushing effects of personal disappointment and access to guns. >> the study points out an indigenous american condition it calls exceptionalism, the idea that you can be great and famous here. he talks about the crushing disappointment that can come from that.

it points out a study that show 81% of high school students believe they were about to have a great paying job by the age of 25, have a better life financially than their parents did. 26% of them believe that they were soon going to be famous. how could you not be disappointed in a culture like that? it's the crushing strain of that disappointment, the study points out, that is often common to rampage shooters. >> perhaps in response to that disappointment, the study finds in rampage shooters a twisted hope for some sort of fame through killing, a desire that those shooters seem to share with another category of self destructive murderer, suicide bombers. the final element that the study identifies is of course guns. the study found that among 171 nations that it looked at, there is no connection between the rate of actual violence and the rate of mass shootings. countries like mexico, venezuela, nigeria, which have terrible murder rates don't

really have mass shootings. instead, it's access to firearms, the study found that truly makes the difference. again in that category, the united states is far and away the world leader. we have 88.8 guns per 100 people in this country. compare that to second place yemen, a country in the midst of a terrible civil war. they only have 54.8 guns per 100 people. syria, a country that people are actively trying to escape only has 3.9 guns per 100 people. it doesn't even make the top 100. the study finds that we may not be able to do anything about our desire for fame or the frustration of comparing our personal ambitions to our personal achievements, but it does say the most concrete step we can take is limiting access to guns. it points out that that may very well be the most politically complicated solution of all and that is another thing that sets america apart as compared to the

rest of the world when it comes to this problem. >> we expect an update this afternoon about the events in san bernardino and we'll bring that to you live. thanks for watching. >> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ welcome to the news hour, live from al jazeera headquarters in doha. coming up in the next 60 minutes. the russian president vows to impose more sanctions against turkey, ahead of their first meeting since ankara downed one of its jets. >> why would he do something like this? >> shock and disbelief after a multiple shooting in california. we look at