thank you. this is a special edition of "nightline." >> tonight we're here in san bernardino, california. a community reeling in the wake of tragedy. as we come on the air we're learning more about the victims who lost their lives at a holiday party and those terrifying moments after the attackers stormed in. >> try to relax, everyone, try to relax. i'll take a bullet before you that's for damn sure. >> like a bomb went off. >> a survivor story. >> i'm trying to contact my wife, tell her i love her. >> from the alleged killer's co-workers who was sitting at a table with him just minutes before, living through the unimaginable. the final dramatic moments for that couple on a mission to kill. what sparked the rampage and were they radicalized? >> this special edition of

"nightline," california shooting rampage, will be right back.

this is a special edition of "nightline," california shooting rampage. >> good evening. thank you for joining us tonight. just outside the scene of one of the deadliest mass shootings in california history, we're now learning more about the young couple and their alleged rampage, their disturbing

arsenal of pipe bombs and weaponry. what authorities found in their home and their bullet-ridden suv. we're also hearing from the first responders who stormed the scene. and loved ones of the lost whose lives are forever changed. >> to be honest, you guys, it was a little surreal. it was, you know -- you train for it and you know that your job is dealing in reality. but it seemed a little surreal. >> reporter: tonight lieutenant mike matt giving an emotional account of what it was like to be one of the first shooters to the shooting massacre in san bernardino yesterday. >> it was unspeakable, the carnage we were seeing, the number of people who were injured, and unfortunately already dead. and the pure panic on the face of those individuals that were still in need, needing to be safe. >> reporter: earlier today the county coroner released the names of the people who lost their lives at the hands of two armed attackers. >> we have 14 people that are confirmed dead in this incident. the number of wounded has risen

from 17 to 21. >> it's been kind of surreal. i'm still kind of coming to terms with it. >> reporter: ryan reyes learned the devastating news of his boyfriend's dead, daniel kaufman, just today. >> as we were finding out more and more, no, none of these hospitals have him, that's when that hope just really dwindled. >> reporter: kaufman, a job trainer at the inland regional center, was 42. >> the last thing i said to him was, i love you and i will text you after my doctor's appointment. because i was supposed to go to the doctor yesterday. >> reporter: michael raymond wetzel, father of six, also among the dead, spokesperson for the family speaking out today. >> they are very overwhelmed. there are six kids that have lost their father. the kids are just finding out today and they're trying to be really cautious. >> reporter: tonight we're learning more details about who did this and the elaborate preparations that went into this massacre. >> it was an event that was

training in the morning, transitioning to a holiday christmas party luncheon in the afternoon. >> reporter: 28-year-old american-born syed rizwan farook attended a holiday luncheon for the san bernardino county public health department, where he was employed as a health inspector. he reportedly left the gathering angry and returned later with his wife, 29-year-old tashfeen malik. >> it seems hard to believe all of this was spontaneous -- how could he get all this -- >> we said yesterday there appears to be a degree of planning that went into this. >> reporter: at 11:00 a.m., a couple entered the conference room wearing tactical vests and armed with rifles. >> need assist now, i have shots fired. >> we believe the suspects when they entered fired between 65 and 75 rounds. they sprayed the room with bullets. >> reporter: within four minutes a massive law enforcement response. >> i realized as i was getting closer that i was one of the very first units there. when we entered there was fresh gunpowder and smell of gunpowder in the air leading me to believe

that there was, in fact -- there were, in fact, shooters still. >> reporter: matt and three others headed east toward the conference room where police say 70 to 80 people were present. >> it was immediately evident that the reports we were getting were 100% true. there were victims who were clearly -- obviously deceased outside the conference room. >> reporter: later authorities discovered an explosive device, apparently intended to be triggered through a remote control. >> i need you to advise all of the units to move with caution. >> three pipe bombs combined into one that had a remote control, car-type remote control device that appears to have not worked in this case. >> reporter: this video shared with local radio station kpcc shows police trying to keep people calm. tonight an outpouring of support for the officer who said this -- >> try and relax, i'll take a bullet before you do, that's for damn sure.

>> reporter: those evacuated searched one by one. the suspects had fled in a black suv. about four hours later, a tip leading police to this house five miles from the center. the pair takes off again in that black suv. leading police on a chase back towards the scene of the earlier rampage. >> they're shooting at us from the suv eastbound on richardson. responding units watch your crossfire. >> reporter: tashfeen malik, the female suspect, firing out the back at police. >> the male suspect who was the driver got out and fired at officers from the street as well. >> reporter: all in all firing 76 rounds. two officers injured, not critically. >> one of the officers came back and told us, get inside, active shooter. >> reporter: the suv cornered. >> holy [ bleep ]. >> reporter: terrorized residents. >> oh my gosh. guys, this is at my house right now. >> reporter: while police rained bullets down on the suv. >> damn, this isn't kidding around. >> reporter: finally it was

over. >> right now we have one down outside the car, one down inside the car. >> reporter: both suspects dead. police finding rifles, pistols, thousands of rounds of ammo in the car. >> on them on their person on their body, in the vehicle, they had over 1,400 .223-caliber rounds available to them. they had over 200 9-millimeter rounds on their persons as well. >> reporter: at a home where farook reportedly lived, even more weapons. authorities found an arsenal of 12 pipe bombs along with a staggering ammunition stash. 2,000 9-millimeter rounds. 2,500 .223-caliber assault rifle rounds. several hundred .22 long rifle rounds. >> if you look at the amount of obvious preplanning that went in, the amount of armaments that he had, the weapons and the ammunition, there was obviously a mission here. >> reporter: the exact motive of the shooters is still unknown. authorities continue to search the home today for answers.

>> yesterday a tragedy occurred in san bernardino. >> reporter: this massacre marking yet another instance of president obama speaking out about a mass shooting in america. >> going to have to i think search ourselves as society to make sure that we can take basic steps that would make it harder -- not impossible but harder -- for individuals to get access to weapons. >> reporter: the san bernardino shooting is the 355th mass shooting this year according to mass shooting tracker group that counts shootings where four or more people are killed or injured by gunfire. by this count, there have been more mass shootings than days this year. tonight reality sinking in for the families of those 14 killed. >> we know he's in a better place. >> reporter: among them, nicholas thalasinos, employee of the county department of health. >> i actually got a extra hug

and a kiss from him yesterday, so that's what i'm holding on to. >> reporter: also killed aurora godoy, shannon johnson, and 12 others. >> right now we're just great to thanking god that she's alive. knowing that she's okay, she's going to pull through, makes it a big sense of relief. >> reporter: for those who lost their loved ones there is no relief, only unrelenting heartache. >> i have no idea how i'm going to handle this. the world will suffer from having one less person like him in it. that's what bothers me. is, you know, he is a ray of light to so many people. when we come back, we hear from the survivor who worked with, even shared a cubicle, with one of the alleged killers. and the moment he knew something was horribly wrong. >> i'm ready to leave. and there's like a bomb went off.

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we're back with a special edition of "nightline" from san bernardino. amidst the tragic loss there are remarkable stories of survival.

patrick bacari shared a cubicle with one of the alleged shooters who he considered a friend. he was sitting next to syed farook at the holiday party yesterday. he told david muir everything seemed normal until he excused himself to go to the restroom, then the blast of bullets. >> this was a guy you shared a cubicle with for how long? >> about two years. >> you'd been sitting at the table with him? >> it was a fairly long table. he was at the opposite end, i was at the other end. i think he came late so he positioned himself there. >> did you talk to him? >> just a casual nod or whatever. they announced a 15-minute break. during that break i excused myself and got to the restroom. and there's like a bomb went off. i turned back and looked at the mirror. i can see that i'm bloody here, here, here. i don't know what it is. >> you were at the paper towel dispenser? >> i was in the restroom, just

pulled paper towels. pumping the towels. sounds like an explosion went out. i announced to the restroom we were under attack. the one that was beside me, i told him to get down on the floor, and we put our feet against the door to inhibit anybody from entering the restroom. we're hearing gun fire take place. we're not feeling anything. i'm trying to contact my wife and tell her i love her. and that i'm okay. but we're under attack. the gentleman beside me, i asked him to call the police and he did. within minutes of us being there, i guess it was four or five minutes, they came and they attempted to open the restroom door but they couldn't move the door because we had it braced closed. >> with your feet? >> yeah. >> you were frozen? >> we followed their directions. they took us across the -- that building to another building. they asked who's injured. one of my co-workers was outside that restroom and she took two or three rounds. and so we could see the injuries on her.

i could feel my little bit of bleeding. some pepper marks all over my body. and so we said, you know, we've got to get her to an ambulance. >> reporter: patrick, also a medic, helped many of his co-workers who were wounded. today at the hospital he saw one of them, a woman who was shot, who he helped survive. >> did she thank you? >> yes. she said, this is the man that rendered me aid. and that made me feel good. >> your friends who were at that table? >> yes, i had very good friends. a very good friend who lives down the street. he had been the sweetest, most dear, most appreciated employee i've met while i worked there. he -- he was just a jack of all trades. and a blessing to be and to know. and he'll surely be missed. >> reporter: our thanks to david muir for that report. now we turn to the young couple alleged to have carried

out the bloody attack. after sweeping their house police found an arsenal big enough to kill thousands. rifles, pipe bombs, a chilling assortment of ammunition. abc's chief investigative correspondent brian ross takes us inside the search for answers. >> reporter: the fbi tonight is now treating the investigation of syed farook and his pakistani-born wife tashfeen malik as a potential case of terrorism, although without saying that was the motive. >> it would be irresponsible and premarv me to call this terrorism. the fbi defines terrorism very specifically. that is still the big question, what is the motivation for this. >> reporter: today behind the doors of the young couple's san bernardino home, police say they found an arsenal of weapons that could have been used to kill thousands of people. >> clearly they were equipped and they could have continued to do another attack. >> reporter: in the garage a virtual bomb factory with 12 unexploded bombs. described as similar to this one featured in an al qaeda publication.

one neighbor said another resident in the area became worried about what was going on in the garage. >> they had i guess -- receiving packages, quite a few packages in a short amount of time. and that they were actually doing a lot of work out in the garage. and she was kind of suspicious. >> reporter: but nobody called the police. also in the search, police found more than 6,100 unspent rounds or bullets found at the home. and in the getaway car. along with two high-powered assault rifles and two handguns. all purchased legally and quietly stockpiled by farook prior to the deadly assault on a holiday party for his fellow workers from the county health department. >> he was there early on and he left. we did have some initial information that he left under some kind of duress or as if he was angry. >> reporter: farook came back with his wife, dressed in tactical gear, and marched into the meeting room and opened fire. not aiming at anyone in

particular. >> they sprayed the room with bullets so i don't know that there was any one person that they ultimately targeted. they killed 14 people there. >> reporter: the san bernardino police chief said it was clear to him that what happened was much more than simple workplace violence. >> nobody just gets upset at a party, goes home, puts together that kind of an elaborate scheme or plan to come back and do that. there was some planning that went into this. >> reporter: by outward appearances, farook, born in chicago, lived a quiet life in this community outside los angeles he had worked five years at the county health department. one of his victims was fellow health inspector nicholas farook gave no signs anything was wrong. >> they all knew him. most of the victims, the victims i'm aware of, they were all friends with the man that did this. and even though they knew he was muslim, they had no idea that he had become radicalized.

i don't understand it. >> reporter: on muslim dating sites farook described himself as devout and looking for love, seeking a wife who would wear a hijab. he called himself a liberal interested in snowboarding, working on cars, and taking target practice in the backyard. at the san bernardino mosque he regularly attended the imam said tonight the community was shocked by what happened. >> the news of the shooting was shocking. unbelievable. unfathomable. left us all speechless. and it is an act that we condemn as muslims. >> reporter: as for farook's wife, she is also a mystery to authorities tonight. and it's not clear how they first met. >> we don't know enough. we do not know enough. >> reporter: she came to the u.s. with him in 2014 from saudi arabia on what's known as a fiance visa and this marriage certificate shows they married on august 16th, 2014, in riverside, california. when their daughter was born,

just six months ago, they registered for baby gifts asking for pampers diapers and an infant car seat. yet on wednesday they left all that behind. as farook took the wheel of the suv, rented just a few days earlier. his wife sat in the back, firing dozens of rounds as the police closed in and ultimately killed them both. now the fbi is looking for connections between farook and at least two specific individuals here in the united states who may have been involved in the radicalization of farook or in the planning of the attack. but bottom line the fbi says it is still too early to call this an act of terrorism. byron? >> thank you, brian. we'll be right back. >> this special edition of "nightline" is brought to you by geico. good thing geico offers affordable renters insurance. with great coverage it protects my personal belongings

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before we go we take a moment to remember the lives lost to senseless violence. a community standing together in the face of grief. >> this poor girl said, are you amanda's mom? i said, yes, i am, what happened, what happened? she said, amanda's been shot. >> she just said that she was in a room, she locked herself up, there were shooters. >> she says, mommy, pray for my co-workers, i think some of them died. and i said, honey, we have the news on, and 14 of them died. >> the one thing we do know is that we have a pattern now of mass shootings in this country that has no parallel anywhere else in the world. >> this is a pretty resilient community. we will survive this.

>> so it's just, you know, the rest of us that are left that have to deal with the aftermath. but i know that he's in a such much better place now. >> when looking to make sense of loss and suffering, charles tinley wrote an old hymn. we are tossed and driven on the restless sea of time but will understand it better by and by. thank you for watching abc news. "world news now" is coming up soon. tune into "good morning america" tomorrow for continuing coverage. as always, we're online at abcnews.com 24 hours.

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