tv ET Entertainment Tonight NBC December 2, 2015 6:30pm-7:00pm CST
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and a very good evening, everyone. we could be witnessing the final act in a massive manhunt in southern california, following the latest mass shooting to impact t country. a short time ago police cornered an suv and engaged in a shootout with at least one individual inside in the streets of san bernrndino. it is about two miles away from the e ene of the massacre hours earlier at afacility that houses those with developmental disabilities. at least 14 people were killed. several others were wounded, sparking a massive search for as many as three suspects. we h he more from pete lliams. pete? >> lester, authohoties tell us theyelieve these are the three gunmen who carried out the shooting.
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assumption. when police encountered this suv just a short time ago, the suv fired at the policemen. one person rolled out of the car and is now believed to be at large in the area. police are searching r him. a second person in thehe car was killed. and now they believe -- and this is why you are seeing the very guarded approach to the vehicle- a third gunman still alive in the car holding a weapon. and police have also been concernedting scene in san bernadino. one of those suspects is dead, another wounded, a third as we noted, may be on the loose in that neighborhood. we havav extensisi coverage of this breaking news. let's get right to nbc's miguel almaguer in california. what's the latest? >> reporter: this very fluid situation taking a dramatic turn just a short time ago. we can confirm that two suspects are down. they were inside that suv. that was the apparent get-away vehicle in this mass shoototg here. we're now t td a third suspect
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foot, ran into a residential neighborhood. this is the looking at right now. police moved in. an army of officers and armed vehicles scoured this neighborhood going door to door looking for that third suspspt. back h he the a thet the crime scene, police say three men walked into a building three blocks away and suddenly began to open fire. it happened again. wounded in the streets. police and the media rushing to the scene. scenes of chaos and carnage in the worst mass shooting in the united states since the 2012 shooting at sandy h hk elementary school. it began just after 11:00 a.m. local time in san bernadino, california. 60 miles east of los angeles. the police scanner -- >> shots heard in the area of 1365 south waterman. >> reporter: the address for the inland regional center, a three-story building that provides services for the
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>> unknown race male all black clothing with a black mask. >> reporter: then another chilly report. >> weave two suspects both dressed in black. >> reporter: law enforcement raced to the scene to find people running from the building in terror. alex vasquez described what he could see. >> onene thing i did notice was that the firefighters aually used a pick-up truck and they drove in, they started loaded people just in the back of the truck to get them out. a s.w.a.t. team armed with high-powered rifle entered the building looking for the slooter room to room. meanwhile,e, family members waited outside for any word on their loved ones trapped inside. >> did she tell you what happened nside? >> she said there was a shooting, she's scared, hiding until the closet with two others people. >> reporter: patrick was getting texts from his daughter shelby hiding inside the building. >> she told me three men in ski
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buildidi and she was with about nine people in a safe area. 2> reporter: police l people away frou the scene, their hands up to a nearby golf course. others were loaded on to school buses. three hours after it all began, police say they had nearly finished clearly the building. >> the suspects have fled i i potentntlly a dark colored suv. we have for identification on the suspects or the motive for shooting a the this point. >> is this a terrorist incident? we do not know if this is a terrorist incident. >> reporter: to recap those numbers, 14 killed. we're now told 17 wounded. meantime let's go back to our live picture just two milesway from where we are at. police continue their search for a third suspect so we are told he fled into this residential neighborhood on foot. heavily armed officers. an army of them are now sweeping through this community. the two suspects were shot at by investigators just a few blocks
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active scene. police sweeping through this area. again we are told two suspects are down, a third is being searched for right now and lester, we should point out, this search is really going to intensify here. we'll lose sunlight in southern california in about 35 minutes. >> miguel almaguer on the scene. our justice correspondent, pete williams, any word or leads to what brought police to this neighborhood? >> no, nothing that we can report with confidence, lester. we are hearing lots of possibilities and all of those possibilities point away from the idea that this is some kind of jihadist-inspired terrorism. early indications seem to be this building was targeted because of the people who were there. we didn't say that definitively but that seems to be the situation. we know this building was used from time to time for different functions, different people could rent it out.
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that this was not a random choice. we can't -- they're not certain about that. those are the ways that the early indicators point and they point away from terrorism and there are lots of reasons to think this is not terrorism. the justice department, homeland security, fbi apparatus is not responding the way it would be had they thought this was some terrorism. earlier we were watching the scene where the most action of the afternoon was happening the scene where an suv was found by the police. there was gunfire exchanged with the police. we believe that one person was wounded there. one person was killed and one person, the third person who was in that vehicle we believe got away. these are still picktures that we took from the helicopter video,
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have been mostly blown out. number of bullet marks in the windshield and the rear window of the vehicle appears to be shot out entirely, even the frame of the window seems to be missing. authorities tell us that at least two of the people who were in the suv were firing at police through that rear window and one of them got away, lester. and that's the person that's being searched for so urgently right now tonight. >> we're looking now at a live picture that appears to be a church where police are staging perhaps their search from outside there as they work through this neighborhood. again, you see the waning light there in southern california as the search intensifies. 17 people were hurt in today's deadly massacre. what can you tell us about those who were hu? >> reporter: good evening, lester. right now outside low melinda a
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in the past two hours and just lifted within the past few minutes. as you can imagine, this is a chaoaoc scene as choppers are leaving the hospital and emergency vehicles are coming in. as they're coming in, the families are also coming in waiting to find out anything they can on their loved ones. the emergency situation has shut this community down. 70 schools on lockdown, security surrounding area hospitals. courts, public offices, closed. for families, the not knowing is agonizing. >> i can't think. i just can't think. i just want my sister. >> reporter: fear over the fate of loved ones at or near the inland regional center. >> i've been trying to call her and she won't respond. >> reporter: alex johnson hasn't heard from his daughter who was supposed to bebet the center and ght still be ininde. >> she helps out with the red cross and she also is disabled with cerebral palsy. it's terrible. it's tragic. i have no words to describe it.
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>> reporter: for most, they didn't even know if their loved ones were among the victims. >> we know this is a tragedy and a lot of folks out there e e veryoncerned and worried about their loved ones at that facility today. >> reporter: but there was some relief. >> my daughter's out of the building and she's safe. she immediately went and hid in a back office with some other people and they locked themselves in and hid. relieved but sad for the others. >> reporter: luis gutierrez w w one of the luck which onesy ones. his wife made it out unharmed. >> i'm just going to hug her. >> reporter: an officer was just brought here to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries but injuries that were related to today's shooting. we just spoke to a security guard here who's actually manning the entrance where families are coming to the hospitit. she spoke to three or four members o o differentfamilies, one offhom was young man jt waiting to hear anything he could on the condition and whereabouts of his uncle. >> morgan, thanks very much. we've been watching the picture
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screen, police outside what appears to be a church parking lot. miguel almaguer, can you shed some light on that? >> reporter: we know police officece were at this scene a few hours earlier today. they were sweeping through this area and are now back again for a second time. clearly they're following some type of lead or tip that's taken them back there. these officers, you see the man on far left with his gun drawn, other officers look fairly relaxed as theyweep this church for a second time. this is just a few blocks away from where that suv was riddled with gunfire where we're told two suspects were taken down and a third now on the loose. of course police have said these suspects are heavily armed. you can see officers pushing in beyond this gate here as they clear this area. officers are using extreme caution. we know that there was talk that the spects may have had some type of explosive device. officers sweeping this area and taking no chances.
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time ago, it is quit requestting time for many in this area. hundreds are trying to get back into their neighborhoods but effectively this neighborhood is locked down. hundreds of officers pouring intotohe region from all across this area. police helicopters over the scene. you can see officers here with a search dog continuing to move in. this scene is very, very active. this search will continue, it appears, for some time. >> i know we're going to hear from police at a news cononrence again very shoholy but in the last news conference, did they give any inkling as to what tip led them to the place where they encountered that suv and the suspects? >> reporter: they have not given us any information about where that suspect may be or why they are going to certain neighborhoods or certain homes. you can see the officers are moving together in groups, sweeping up there the area. typically they will do a grid search here, go from house to house, neighborhood to neighborhood, sweeping across this area. then they'll often double back
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that area again, lester. so that may be what we are seeing here now. police will only tell us that that third suspect got out of that vehicle on foot and fled into a aesidential nenehborhood. th is what's launcheded this this massive massive manhunt from a few blocks of where we are. dogs are on the ground being loo looking for possible scent as the officers sweep the neighborhood. >> they've got the larger perimeter sealed offff to get a clearer idea of where this suspect might be? >> reporter: they've certainly sealed off the area in terms of any foot traffic, cars, moving into the area. one of their concerns is going to be out here folks that were at home when this all took place. they have told everyone in this region to shelter in place, lock their doors, shut their windows and stay inside batatooms and other areas where there are no windows potentially. officers moving through this area, sweeping through the area.
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until they feel it is safe but no timetable's been given here. officers clearly focused on the search right now. >> this is for some people may find this reminisce sentantreminisceant of what we saw in watertown, massachusetts. neighborhood essentially on lockdown, people inside their homes perhaps watching local news coverage. this is certainly wall to wall television in los angeles. people watching police move through this neighborhood methodically trying to get a lead on this suspect. miguel, is there any indication this person might have been wounded? >> reporter: there's no indication yet from officers. certainly tha suv was riddled with gunshots. it sounds as though two of the suspects were wounded or certainly at least down. so you may -- obviously police may have engaged that third suspect before he was able to get away on foot. asasou can see, these are fairly large properti. these are not very small homes. when they canvass this area,
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neighborhood, they have to sweep through the trees in this area, sweep through the front yards, backyards and oftentimes they'll even enter homes that they sweep through this area. it is a large community here so that could take quite some time. >> miguel, as w w watch thiss plala out, lenny depalma, former u.s. marshal, i had occasion to go out with one of the fugitive task forces. what should people inside their homes be doing knowing that a police o oicer might come. ing in your backyard or working his way down the side, what should pple do to protect themselves in a situation like in? >> anybody that's at home -- again, it is 5:00 or close to it out there. there's a lot of unoccupied homes out there. so if this individual, this suspect is at large still and gotten into one of those homes, that could be an issue in itself. but the public needs to remain
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theysee, hear anything at all, call the professionals, let them do what they need to do. however what i'm worried about is why were these three suspects still together? they hit this place very quick. witnesses said they casually walked out, got into an su within a couple of miles of the first target, were they looking at something else, that's anyone's requestquestion. from a law enforcement perspective you got that all in the back of your head. again with respect to the public, keep your eyes and ears open, put your lights on, it is getting dark. if you're home, lay low. if you have a basement, get in it. don't think there are many out there. but as my task force, lester, you were with us and thanks for requesting out ing going it out with us. >> it was quite the adventure. we heard earlier in the news conference these individuals came prepared as if on a mission. presuming they were armed up and ready to do battle.
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miles from where this all began. that's got to be surprising given you are prepared, you're on a mission be with you would think the escape could be part of that mission. >> well, that's the million dollar question, lester. why are they still together? why are they only two miles away from the initial target location? they're heavily armed, sounds like. certainly tactically sound and they're wearing the appropriate equipment. but again, i tip my hat to law enforcement. they got their very quick and there was a lot of damage done within a few minutes and they're doing it by the numbers now. searching every house, i'm sure they'll have the appropriate equipment and assets and aviation support, thermal imaging, whatever is needed as nightfall falls on that area and hopefully this goes down without incident. there is a suspect out there -- certainly sounds like there is -- what is it? suicide by cop now? anyone's guest.
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could arise and i'm sure the appropriate hostage rescue teams are there, s.w.a.t. teams, negotiators, whatever is needed on law enforcement -- from law enforcement. >> lenny, do appreciate your insight. pretty remarkable scene now watching this -- just this papade of officers, flak vests, heavy weapons now making their way down this street appartly wi the sense they're going to a specific target area, not necessarily going house to house. we saw the dogs moving out in front at one point. there you see it right there trying to pick up a scent. miguel almaguer, you are closer to the scene of the massacre today, the shooting. as i look at this picture, it just strikes me that we're going to be in the dark here very soon. >> reporter: yeah, lester. that's certainly a big concern that officers have. this shooting began some six hours ago. now as we approach h at is the
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5:00 p.m., the sun is going down quickly. officer are on foot. clearly they'll have the helicopters up and use the infrared system so teeee if they see any body heat coming from this area. you can see they're moving in teams, they a an't takingny chances. they have dogs with them. we are also told they are bringing in multiple helicopters from different agencies to continue the air search to make sure that the suspect does not get away. they are going to try to establish a perimeter to pin in the suspect. if he is still in this area, shortly after he was engaged if the gun battle police engaged that suvuvn a gun battle. we're told two of the suspects were down. a third got out of that vehicle, ran into this residential neighborhood. now officers are sweeping through this area. as you can see, these homes are big lots. they're not small homes. there's also trees, shrubbery in this area. there are a million places someone can hide. officers are verer concerned about thth folks inside the rimeter.
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place, keep their doors closed, their windows locked and keep everyone out of this area and also keep a cell phone by them, to be in touch with police if they hear or see anything suspicious. lester, a very active scene here as at dinner hour approaches and the sun drops down. >> we're waiting forge a news conference supposed to start any minute with the police chief from san bernadino. miguel, you made the drive a short while ago. give us a sense, is this considered part of the greater los angeles area? how far is this from l.a.? >> reporter: it is roughly 60 miles outside of los angeles so it is certainly part of the greater los angeles area. it is popular bedroom community. many people live in san bernadino county and commute in los angeles. it wouldn't surprise me if specialized officers from the lapd or l.a. sherive are's officers were also out here. they're highly trained and have some of the best equipment if the world. it wouldn't surprise me if they were the first to o dispspched
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multiple agencies a a working this together. my assumption is they are trying to close in the suspect or pin him down into a specific area. but at least from what we're seeing here lester tonight from the helicopter video, from the ground teams in this area, they don't seem to have been able to pinpoint the exact location where the suspect is. so this search could continue for quite some titi. no word on that third suspect that's still outstanding as we await the press conference in a few minutes. >> clint van zandt, former fbi profiler, hostage negotiator, which leads me to the question, as this goes on, are you fearful this could turn into a hostage taking at some point, clint? >> well, i am very much so, lester.. i mean i'm just listening to your reporter and looking at the scenario. if this individual did in fact bail out of the escape vehicle and get into this bedroom community, he could have gotten into any house. i've done these searches before
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house, you have to knock o o the door, you have to get the occupants to come out of the house. then you,have to go in and clear the house. it is very much of a manpower manpower-intensive scenario if you have to go through every house, every carport, every garage. as we keep poioiing out, day is quickly changing into night and that makes a much more challenging. tactical officers will have night vision aprilcapability, but when you are going house to house dealing with residents that are scared to death already, that's going to take a tremendous undertaking and ey'll need everyry law enrcement manpower they have out there to do this. >> reporter: lester, we know a flight restriction is now in place for local aircraft. they want to keep everyone out of this region as they bring in more police helicopters, more police aircraft in this area so we know they are trying to clear folks out of an even larger area.
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suspect may be on the ve, may have moved from oneome into another. that's obvious a concern officers have. they are bringing in more aircraft from,the air so theyhat a better look down below as the sun drops. they're bringing in more help as the sun drops lower. >> we saw the dogs on the move. do we know what's h hpened back at the s sne of the suv that was corner and how close that is to where this search is going on? >> reporter: the search is expanding, the grid area is getting larger. originally when officers went into the area it was just blocks away from where this suv went down. we asked police here when the third suspect on foot ran into therea where did he go, whihi direction, what wasase wearing, what was the description. they don't have any of that information available. officers flooded into if the area during the gun battle. they were able to see at least that third suspect get away on foot so they must have had some idea of what direction he was moving into.
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focusing their search right now. >> the bigig questiti, we don't know whethth police know who they're looking for but their relative familiarity with the neighborhood certainly could play a role in all this. let me bring our viewers up to speed how quickly this all took place. this happened around 11:00 a.m. pacific time. the killllg, massasae of 144 peopop, the wounding of 17 others. right from the beginning, this report went out of a dark colored suv as a possible suspect vehicle. as they continued to treat it as an active shooting scene. it's that vehicle that we believe was later spotted cornered at the site of that gun battlele you can see thecene there on the street as police have restaged, many coming from the scene of the shooting earlier, restaging there for this very, very large prolonged manhunt for
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dangerous business at any time but certainly night will becece a more difficult issue for police as they continue to work that neighborhood. you mentioned -- we mentioned residents have bee told to stay in place, shelter in place. it is a very dangerous situation not knowing where the suspect is. and no one certainly wants to do in ig that might spook police during this operation, so a very, very tense situation. we will cononnue our live continuing coverage of this drama playing out in san bernadino, california, right after this. i built my business with passion. but i keep it growing by making every dollar count. that's why i have the spark cash card from capital one. i eaea unlimited 2% cashshack on everything i buy formy studio. and that unlimited 2% cash back from spark means thousands
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darkness is quickly descending over southern california as the mupt intensifies for 1 of 3 people believed to have staged a massacre, the killing of 14 people and the wounding of 17 others at a facility in san bernadino, california. following a gun battle that cornered the suspects. one apparently was able to escape into the neighborhood you are looking at on the right side of your screen. that right now the target of this mass ofive police dragnet. s.w.a.t. teams and specially trained dogs have moved in. pete williams, what do you know? >> reporter: there is a working theory now among law enforcement that this was in fact -- i shouldn't say in fact. working theory is that this was an incident of workplace violence, that the people involved with the shooting -- at leastne of them -- had some sort of a grudge against the
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in that facility in san bernadino with being and bernadino, and that he came at some point to settle some scores. that's the working thry. nothing proven at this point other than some statements by witnesses but it's not been confirmed by investigators. this he believe that is the case. that's direction in which they're headed right now. investigations though sometimes go down a road, only to find that it is a dead end and they turn and go somewhere else. but that's the starting point. that points away from the idea that this was any kind of foreign-inspired jihadist or isis or al qaeda or other kind of domestic terrorism. we don't see any of the kind of respspse here in washington if it was foreign-inspired act of terrorism. that's the operating theory that it may be a very, very deadly, very seriously dangerous
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>> as to how we got here, miguel almaguer, describe how we got to this neighborhood and this particular search. miguel, you with us? >> reporter: lester, we can tell you the search here is still very active. police told us a short time ago they were involved in a gun battle with two suspects, a third suspect fled on foot into an area out here where this massive search is continuing at this hour. police looking for a third suspect. we asked police if they had a description of the third suspect, they did not. but they are concerned that that suspect may be heavily armed. you are seeing armored vehicles going home to home searching for the third suspect who remains on the loose. we're told three suspects came into facility a few blocks behind me and began to open fire. >> expanded search now as the camera moves out there, moving a
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