assistant director of the fbi, say a few words. >> thank you, sheriff. the fbi is here with our state and local partners as well as our partners from the atf. we are here to essentially assure that all the woulded are extracted and ultimately public safety is the number one goal at this point. we will work as a law enforcement community to assure that we have done everything we can in our power to find, locate and apprehend these subjects. at this point i know one of your questions is going to be is this a terrorist incident. i will tell you right now we do not know if this is a terrorist incident. so we start from the beginning, working with all our local partners. we take the presumption that it maybe, it may not be, but we will work hand in hand with them from the beginning. if things change we are here from the get go, and there is no steps lost as the investigation proceeds. at this point i'm going to turn it back over to the chief. >> so very quickly, after the

initial response we have several hundred people that were in the building that are not injured. those people have been taken to a safe location, and they are part of the investigation. in addition to that, we know that this is a human incident and this is a tragedy. we know we've got a lot of folks out there that are very concerned and worried about their loved ones that may have been at that facility today. we've set up an area at the hernandez area in the city of san bernardino for family members to go for information. we will push information out to that for those family members as we can. also the sheriff's department put out the crime tip hotline number. if anybody has any information we'd very much like to hear from you. so with that i will take a couple of questions. >> do you have any information on this event that was happening and apparently upwards of three gunmen stormed in? >> i don't. i've heard everything it was a meeting to a boy tension like a lunch-type gathering maybe for the holidays. that's not confirmed. that is very preliminary. it's my understanding that most

of the people that were wounded, most of the victims, were all centrally located in one area of the facility. >> were there any weapons or body armor, anything like that been recovered? >> in terms of the employees, it's my understanding this facility has both state and county employees as well as folks that work for a number of organizations. the inland regional center serves a number of organizations that treat mental illness type issues and that sort of stuff. i don't have any idea. i know that state and local county employees work there. i do not know if any of them are the victims or who they are at this point. >> [ inaudible ]. >> i do not have any information that any children were involved. >> [ inaudible ]. >> weapons used and the number of people involved here? given what you have in the way of evidence, witness accounts and everything else would you characterize this as an organized event? what were these men using and shooting at people with? >> preliminary information indicates these are people that came prepared, that they were dressed and equipped in a way to

indicate they were prepared. they were armed with long guns, not handguns. i do not know what type of long guns. >> how were they dressed? >> i don't know. >> were any weapons recovered at the scene? >> we do not have any weapons recovered at this point. >> [ inaudible ]. >> chief, could i ask for clarification? you said upwards of 14 dead? what does upwards mean? >> the preliminary number we have right now is that there are 14 people who are deceased, and our count is another 14 people that have been taken to various hospitals for significant injuries, potentially related to gun shots. we also have a number of other people that may have had some minor types of injuries. they fell down in the course of fleeing or something of that nature. but roughly about 14 that we believe are wounded. >> [ inaudible ] inside the building video evidence of what happened? >> i would imagine there are but we're not that far in the investigation yet. >> chief, would you mind repeating the nuts and bolts

again? >> the whole thing? >> is there the possibility that there are more deceased or wounded inside of that regional center? >> i think that that could be a possibility, yes. i don't think we're comfortable saying no at this point. >> have the bomb technician recovered anything which is or looked like an i.e.d. inside the building? >> as the teams were going through and searching for the suspects and searching for victims, there were things in the building that were not immediately identifiable that caused them some concern. as a result of that we do have some bomb techs that are on-site that are checking some of that out. i do not know if they were brought in by the suspects. we do not know if their bombs of any sort. just simply things that as our teams were moving through said that needs to be looked at more closely. >> they haven't taken anything apart an or destroyed anything? >> i have no information on that. >> [ inaudible ]. >> have you found any vehicles that you believe are related to this event? >> not they know of at this point. >> witnesses said the gunmen said anything?

did they say anything? >> we don't have anything specific from those witnesses. we're in the early stages of talking to them. >> [ inaudible ]. >> this is the only active scene that we're working. >> what about security tapes that may have been shot inside? >> that is part of the investigation. i just don't have that at this point. >> can you talk about the suspects, this vehicle, the dark suv? >> that's all we have. very generic, upwards of three suspects, darker suv to flee. >> suspects wearing camoflauge? >> i've never heard camoflauge. >> what were they wearing? >> [ inaudible ]. >> i have repeatedly been told the number is three. but keep in mind this is information that is flowing in as people are talking to witnesses very quickly. as we put everything together some of this may change. we know these are fluid situations. some of the information we put out now may change a little bit in the future. >> is there any description about these suspects? >> as far as people in the area, we're doing everything we can to keep this area safe. we are addressing other

facilities in the area that we think may be similar or may be somewhere but we don't have any information or any credible threats to any other fa sicilit at this point. we're on a behind the sense of alert. we ask the public to be on a heightened sense of alert watching out for those things. if they come across information contact us and let us investigate it. >> [ inaudible ]. >> i put out what i have. just three. >> were they wearing masks, chief? >> one report i heard is masks were involved, but i don't know that to be definitive at this point. >> do you have any active leads you're pursuing for them right now? >> yes. not going to talk about it. >> did the gunmen say anything at all during the attack, during the shootings? >> not that i'm aware of. >> any sort of threats made prior to this incident? >> that's part of the investigation. we're not going to talk specifically about that right now. >> [ inaudible ] i just want to say thank you to all the chiefs, fire chiefs and everything, all

the responders. i appreciate that. >> thank you very much. >> do you have any idea how long the attack lasted? >> a few minutes. >> based on how well -- >> a lot of information there from the san bernardino police chief jared berguan about a situation that unfolded, interregional center san bernardino, california. i think we have a few more minutes. >> [ inaudible ] how are you equipping your people in the field? >> our people in the field go into the field with what they have. we have a number of officers that have high caliber weapons, they carry assault rifles with them. most of the officers carry handguns. the officers that arrived on scene and did the initial work to go into that building and clear it went in with what they had. >> [ inaudible ]. >> we do not know where the suspects are. >> chief, how is the fbi getting involved in this? and is there somebody a

representative maybe they want to talk in detail? >> we know historically that some of these investigations can turn into a potential federal prosecution-type thing. at this point we don't know that to be the case. but it's better to have them on scene from the very beginning so they know what we know and they are an active part of the investigation. in addition to that, being from the federal government they bring to the table tremendous resources to help us in doing our job. >> especially when it comes to terrorism. can you talk about that? >> we have no information at this point to indicate that this is terrorist-related in the traditional sense that people may be thinking. obviously at minimum we have a domestic terrorist type situation that occurred here. >> any description at all? white, black? >> we don't. >> [ inaudible ] in the sense they had training? >> the only thing i'm comfortable saying at this point is that the information we have is that they came prepared to do what they did, as if they were on a mission. >> how long were they inside shooting? >> i don't know specifically.

several minutes. >> were the gunmen still there when the initial responding officers arrived? >> we don't know. our police officers have not engaged or exchanged gunfire with anybody. but we don't know if they were on scene when we arrived. >> chief you may have covered this or no. but were the vast majority of the dead and wounded in one centralized location in the facility? >> yes. in the same general area of the facility. >> assumption here, chief, that they had targeted that particular room? those particular people? >> i think we're a little too early in the investigation to even make that assumption. we don't know what the motive is at this point. >> were hostages taken? >> we don't have any information they took any hostages. >> can you describe what types of weapons were being used? >> long guns is what i've been told. i think there are people that speculate what type of long guns those are. i don't want to put out a specific type of gun.

just saying it's a long gun not a handgun. >> what made you say they were on a mission? >> they came in with a purpose. they came in with the intent to do something. >> was there any threat made to this facility prior to this incident? >> i don't have specifics on that. with that we're going to cut this off. we will be back every hour on the hour to provide an update, even if we don't have anything specifically we will come back to you every hour on the hour at least for the next several hours to provide an update. >> at the top of the hour. >> at the top of the hour is fine. >> jarrod berguan. >> a lot of information there from the san bernardino police chief jarrod berguan about the situation unfolding at the inland regional center in san bernardino, california, unfolded a little over three hours ago on the west coast, 11:00 a.m. pacific time, when it appears that three gunmen came into the inland regional center, started shooting. 14 people killed according to the sheriff, 14 people with serious injuries at the hospital right now. and perhaps the most chilling news, those shooters still on

the loose. pierre thomas our senior justice correspondent, when you heard the sheriff say that you said worst case scenario. >> worst case scenario, no better way to put it, unfortunately a nightmare scenario. they don't know who they are, they don't know where they are, and they have clearly deadly intentions with more potential targets out there. >> perhaps left in a black suv. brian ross our chief investigative correspondent. the sheriff also said these people came prepared, prepared to do what they did as if they were on a mission. >> on a mission. they came not to take hostages which they didn't take. they came to kill and then get out and go somewhere else. we don't know where, they don't know where. and as pierre says, this is a highest concern. this is an active threat right now. >> what he also said, the sheriff said there's no information and he used the air quotes this is a terrorist situation. but he said at minimum a domestic terrorism situation. >> terrorism of some sort. whether these are people that have some other issue. clearly i would say from what i was listening to here this was

not a disgruntled former employee or someone with a unique argument or issue with this center for the disabled. this was a group of people apparently on a mission. they came, they killed, they left. long guns, perhaps masks, body armor. >> yes. it was serious, it was planned. they left very quickly. in fact they were in and out in a short period of time. i'd like to know what sort of rounds they may have found on the floor. obviously we're not there yet. i thought the chief did an excellent job. put out the information he had. he said we don't have this. he was very concise and well delivered. >> promised update on the hour. matt gutman on the scene inland regional center. several people taken out of the building as well, still being cleared. >> reporter: apparently so, george. what we have been seeing over the past probably half an hour or so for the first time in the hour and a half that we've been here is officers, ambulance, fire trucks, starting to pull away from the scene.

clearly they don't think that this area is of much danger. and what the chief said is that they do believe those gunmen are on the loose now. that's one reason that we've got reports that across this city, city officials are on lockdown. the courthouses. any government officials are still on lockdown. we know that the courts are being surrounded by a swarm of officers with guns at the ready. this city is very much on tenter hooks right now with those alleged possibly three assailants out somewhere. now they're starting to let people come back in here. but whatever happened in there, even though they still may be clearing that building, i think the bottom line from the sheriff's office and police officers here on the ground that situation is over. of course what else is going on we don't know. >> former fbi agent brad garrett with us this afternoon. the chief said there are bomb technicians on the site checking out various devices on the scene. >> that again would suggest, george, that they wanted to complicate this scene as much as

possible. there's some unique things about this. it appears that they didn't go there to die. it appears they wanted to keep their face covered. they wanted to commit this act, they wanted to complicate the scene, maybe kill more people with explosives and then leave. so that then takes you to if it's not islamic extremists, where the likelihood of another event is out there, or is it some domestic extremist group? some hate group? what are the issues in reference to treating the disabled and groups that don't like that or have some issue with it? i'm just speculating here, of course. but if this is just a single event, then there has to be some issue with the individuals who attacked this place and the service they provide. >> that would be one theory, pierre thomas. but as you've been reporting today, the secret service have also been looking at this spate of mass shootings directed at government buildings.

of course this inland regional center which takes care of the developmentally disabled does get state and local, county government funding, is a government center in some respects. >> exactly, george. everything is on the table right now. because they simply don't have enough information to go on. if you want to understand just how dire the situation is, the fact that he came out and specifically asked the public to help them and to be at a heightened state of alert. also the fact they're going to do briefings every hour on the hour tells you that they know the community is extremely afraid and they want to give people as much information as they can when they can so that the public can again be a multiplier effect in terms of eyes and ears. >> and john cohen also former counterterrorism official with the department of homeland security on the phone. it will be everything is on the table as pierre said, all hands on dex. right now they' are now they're going to comb through the security cameras in that location. but they have such a wide area now to try to protect. >> that's right, george. in the days ahead the investigation will tell us more

about the motive behind this. but right now the top priority for law enforcement and security officials is to identify and capture these individuals, prevent them from doing another attack, increasing security around lo locations that may represent a risk. i thought one of the newer facts that came out of the press conference besides what everybody else was saying was that this was potentially a government facility. that's potentially a very important piece of information that state and local government officials that work at this location. >> what would that tell you? >> that would suggest that the investigators are going to be looking at very carefully at whether this was targeted specifically because it had government personnel there, whether it's a domestic extremist organization or a foreign terrorist organization, the fact thought at it is a govt building could be potentially important in determining the moat. >> i have steve gomez, former fbi special agent as well.

they said they're talking to the several hundred evacuated from the building. they could be the prime sources of information right now. >> so they're going to be getting all that information from those witnesses, as much as they can. and if these suspects had their faces covered and they did everything they could so they couldn't be identified, any little thing that those witnesses can provide, their physical description whether they were tall, short, big, whatever it is, even the color of their socks, whatever they can come up with is going to be very important. and as you can see, they're already looking for as much information from the public as possible. they put out the tip line. you know that they've got a number of people that are manning those tip lines right now, getting that information together and pushing that out to the investigators. but one thing i think that is very important is any kind of suspicious activity that may have occurred at that facility -- and i'm talking suspicious activity people maybe that are sitting in a car for a period of time, watching the facility. this is days, maybe weeks ahead of time. they're going to be really focusing on that part of the investigation to try to see, did

these guys do some kind of reconnaissance of the facility prior to this incident. >> george, you know, history has to be our guide in these situations. and people at home may be wondering why we keep qualifying. again, history is a guide. when the oklahoma city bombing took place many years ago there was a lot of speculation initially that it was international terrorism of some sort. perhaps some sort of islamic terrorism. it turned out to be domestic terrorism. and no one saw that coming initially. >> and then we heard there, brian ross, from the chief quite open about the fact that they basically know nothing. >> they just don't know. they made a clean getaway is what he's saying. three men came, heavily armed, on a mission. they killed 14, he says, 14 more injured, and they got away. they were on a mission. and as pierre says from the oklahoma city example, we know it wasn't the mid east. it was the midwest in that case. so all options are open here. there are a number of hate groups around the country.

we're told the los angeles police department now is scrambling its tactical teams to protect sites that could be possible targets. >> they must do that. what we also heard from the chief, ray kelly, the active shooter protocol was put into effect as soon as they got that first 911 call. what does that mean exactly? >> it means that the officers have been trained. as i say, columbine changed a lot of things. and the primary goal is to save lives. so officers responding have to enter that location as quickly as they reasonable can, rather than waiting to construct a team. and apparently that's i think that's what the chief was alluding to. >> brad garrett, we heard from one eyewitness that the suspects who were in the car started to leave and in a quite deliberate manner, relatively slowly. but now some three hours after they may have escaped the scene, they could have gotten quite far. >> somebody mentioned earlier they could be in mexico.

yes. without, you know, something beyond the suv, did they find it? is there -- do they have witnesses of getting into another vehicle? all of those -- it's like the timeline of when they left to where they are now, that's all the pieces we appear to be missing. so that's really the key. can you put that together? so finding the suv really is a key element to what they're doing right now. >> i want to go to matt gutman back on the scene right now. you have some more information, matt? >> reporter: george, only that what we've continued to see officers and s.w.a.t. forces filing away from the scene. we believe that the officers really do think that that building, the i.r.c., has been cleared. what we do know from that press conference is that event was held in a bottom floor, that that is where most of the shooting was confined to, at least that's what the officials say. and that now they are fanning out as brian and pierre and

everybody have been saying across this city, trying to find that dark-colored or black suv. government offices are still closed down. people told to shelter in place. and all of the 200 or so employees that we saw who were not injured, some of them were still crying, clearly shaken up after the ordeal they had been through. but all of them filing past here out of that building and to safety were instructed not to talk to anyone. not family members and certainly not the press about what they saw and what they heard, george. >> so everyone you saw was told not to talk. but do you know if all the employees are in fact out? >> reporter: we believe that the living employees and the people who were not injured and the bodies are indeed out. that is what we are told. we've been in this corner for about an hour and we haven't seen anybody file past. authorities have been meticulously registering every one of those employees, taking their names, giving them water, allowinging them to go to the rest room in that needed to. it has been hours since that

shooting started they have been waiting in the hot sun or waiting sheltering in place inside the building to be extricated and extracted by those s.w.a.t. teams. since then it seems that they're all out at this point. the tone here has totally changed since when we got here about an hour and a half or two hours ago. at first we saw officers running, heavily armed with assault rifles, towards that scene. now people are sort of walking about. i think what is clear the officers believe that whatever happened inside that building, that shooting, the three men coming in, gunning down 14 people, injuring 14 others, that that either 1, 2 or 3 assailants that, those people have left and they're trying to look for them elsewhere. and that's why so much of this city is still on lockdown. i'm getting text messages from city officials in the courthouse who are still texting from inside their offices. they're not even allowed to use the phones. that's how jittery it still is here. that's how jittery the police officers are still here in san bernardino. george. >> with good reason right now, those shooters still on the

loose. pierre thomas, we've heard from your justice department colleague mike lavigne, who also covers homeland security issues. the chief there said we have no information this is a terrorist situation. he said at minimum it is a domestic terrorist situation. he did not mean that in the technical sense of the word. because in justice department parlance that means something quite specific. >> exactly. that means some sort of political motivation is assigned to that. they don't know that to be the case. he's just talking about the theory clearly being fomented. >> they've scrambled tactical teams as a precautionary measure they're putting guards around planned parenthood locations in the los angeles area. >> colorado springs last friday attacked by a single gunman on the planned parenthood facility right there, ray kelli? >> this is purely speculation. but we know isis wants to goad the u.s. into some sort of land war in the middle east. and the theory is that they want to commit these horrendous acts

to galvanize the feeling here to respond. now, these victims, i think many of them had special needs. so it's particularly outrageous this type of attack. an the fact that there's three individuals, i think obviously that has to be on the table. >> the most vulnerable in our society. but brian ross, of course you cover isis. you've covered terrorism for so many years. so far at least not only do we have the police chief saying we really have no information, the president saying we have no information, fbi officials saying we have no information. but so far nothing coming up on international chatter, anything on social media? >> not at all. we've been monitoring. we haven't seen that. don't forget it was a week ago today that the president told the american public there's no specific credible threat against the homeland from isis. and that was the current state of the information. that hasn't changed. so if this turns out to be that, this would be a huge intelligence flaw. but at this point there's no indication whatsoever that it's

isis. frankly, they don't know. there's no information whatsoever. >> none coming in. >> they're monitoring various hate groups that are in that part of california. they're looking at isis. they're looking at everything. as pierre said, everything is on the table. >> widest possible net right now. abc's kana whitworth at loma linda hospital on the scene. >> reporter: hey, george, we are at loma linda hospital about four miles away from the scene. it's one of the only level one trauma centers in the area. right now we have word they have received four adult patients here at loma linda hospital. and they have at least three more on the way, although that report they're saying there could be more. there could be less. but again, it's very close to the scene. and the only level one trauma center that they have here. the other thing i can tell you is that when we arrived on scene, the amount of security is unprecedented. there is the san bernardino police department, of course here. but also the union pacific railroad police have been called in to help. when i talked to them they said we're here to keep any potential

target safe. so they're actually standing in the middle of the parking lot with their guns ready to go. so again, here at loma linda hospital, four confirmed adult patients. there's also another hospital in the area, arrowhead hospital, that has six confirmed patients right now. here at loma linda they do have family gathering in an area of the hospital, we're told that's where family members are sort of supposed to go, supposed to congregate there. that's where the information about their loved ones is flowing. that is an area of the hospital that is also heavily guarded by police. they're taking this very seriously, george. it's still very scary at this moment. a lot of information coming in. >> and kayna, as this started to unfold over the last three hours you were in the region as you were heading to the hospital, what kind of alerts could you tell the public was getting? >> reporter: you know, it's interesting. because as you get closer and closer to the scene, you have to drive along the highway. and they have certain exits on the highway completely blocked

off. which in california traffic if you block off one exit you're talking about a major jam on the highway. so that's creating problems all throughout the city. then as you get closer and closer, they have a major radius around this area on completely blocked off by police officers. it was hard for even all of us in the crew here with abc to even find each other to even get there. and then there are people around the area. there's a hotel right across. and there are people there that are in the hotel. when i walked in they were kind of working, doing their normal things. so it's like people are getting alerts. they're being told to stay away. but they're also -- there was a calmness by the time i arrived. but that was a few hours later. and it was about a mile away from the scene as well. so i can tell you that they're definitely keeping people far away. they're telling people beginning to shelter in place and not letting anybody get anywhere close. >> can't be too safe right now. possibly three suspects on the loose. kayna whitworth, thanks very much. and pierre, listening to that,

los angeles -- the entire los angeles region so dependent on its highways. this could create ripple effects across southern california. >> exactly. so many factors that have to be considered here. and i'm just getting word from senior officials in washington, the homeland security secretary, jeh johnson, fully engaged on this. the attorney genal f

we have contact with officials and the superintendant of schools to make sure they were

on top and make sure their facilities were secure. on a personal note do you know anyone personally that was involved in this and hundreds of people are inside of that building and i don't know if you have a personal connection to anyone inside of that build. >> i am not aware at this time. the chief will defer to any information he put forth. and the county buildings within the city, can you let us know what is being done at many of the city facilities, all the schools in san bernardino city are on lockdown now. as a precaution. >> city hall is in a lock down and some of the community schools are in lock down and as i indicated earlier, they are taking precautions.

again, not knowing if this is a terrorist attack, what is your message to everyone out there not only the city but the southern california area and perhaps beyond with three gunmen perhaps heavily armed still outstanding at this point. i can't speculate to identification of those. it's a tragic incident that happened to any community. we are unfortunate to be the targets at this particular emergency. as always our police department rises to the occasion and puts forth their best efforts and unites and comes together.

we observed how well our public safety responds. >> speaking with us about what is going on in this city again. in the field we are in we watch these things happen across the country wondering and hoping it never happens in our communities and now it has happened in our community. it's amazing to see -- >> rob williams kabc a little more information there. the mayor of san bernardino also there and learning from keith nelson from the center, that the event today was something organized by the san bernardino department of health, and another government of health we have seen several incidents carried out by a lone gunman or inspired by groups overseas like

isis. this unusual if the reports are true, three gunmen involved prepared for a mission that also got away. this is something different. >> this is unique in recent memory, if it's three or more people, you have three people that conspired to murder people. if they are willing to do it once, they are likely willing to do it again. the psychology of three people getting together and saying yes we'll go out and kill people, this is why it's being treated so seriously. in the wake of the attacks overseas, the downing of a russian fighter and the paris attacks. we see the isis sympathizers saying they were targeting us and they talked about new york and washington. >> they talked about the iconic

target, this is not that and this is something else, we can take away from this that it's not over george. it's not over. >> and former counter security terrorism. talk about what kind of assistant federal officials in washington can provide the local officials on the ground in california.

>> and steve gomez former fbi agent in southern california, this is a massive manhunt across the southern california region, we are learning from our reporters that law enforcement officials say that local agencies have mobilized all planes to look for this suv. >> there are capabilities where they can identify any suv, especially if they narrow it down by color. it's a lot of information but in this type of situation they will do that, they will look for that suv and putting as much information out to the public, the fact that we are in l.a. and close to the mexican border there are a lot of alerts at the border entries going across and a lot of information going over to homeland security, and making sure they are on the lookout. and we talked about the

probability that they dumped the black vehicle and jumped into something else, but still finding that vehicle will be key to the various next steps that will occur in this investigation. >> how extreme could this get? we heard her say she saw several exits closed off on the highways by police, how far can that extend and how far will it go? >> when they turned off the exits they were not sure if there were suspects inside of the facility, they have to take all the precautions irk at this point, the net may have to go very wide, not just southern california but potentially the border of mex, nevada and arizona and perhaps northern california. have you to assume they did get out of the immediate perimeter and go very broad and put the information out there to all agencies throughout the country. >> so the earn tire southwest at

least for now. and brad garret, two scenarios, the one we talked about and the gunman immediately looking for another opportunity to attack or they may simply be trying to escape. >> exactly, we are now up to three plus hours and we don't know of any other attacks and at least in the short-term george. this is all about not getting caught and if they have planned this correctly and dropped one vehicle and picked up another and maybe even dropped a second vehicle and had someone pick them up. george they had to communicate some way i would assume. there is another possibility here looking at cell phone traffic in and around that regional center. right before, during and after this shooting. granted, that is a mind boggling job that everybody basically has

a cell phone but what is another avenue, they have to figure out exactly how this moved from the shooting away from the scene and then start plugging it in from there. >> no suicide vest or final stand there on the scene at the inland regional center, the potential now to escape the gunman on the loose. brad does that perhaps push you more in the way of domestic terror or isis inspired terror or it doesn't necessarily give you a clue either way. >> it doesn't because george think about paris for example, obviously at the rock concert, those guys were going to shoot it out and die. or blow themselves up. but you had other locations where they went to restaurants and just shot the restaurant up. they clearly got away and moved on to another location. so hard to say. but you know, the idea and we

already mentioned this of mask and gloves, you can't eliminate isis or other extremist group like them, but is this an individual attack or we'll just have to see and hopefully that is the case. >> pierre? >> george you have to think about the potential of what we saw in the washington, d.c. area of the snipers where they didn't attack immediately thereafter the first attacks -- >> back in 2001 and 2002. >> exactly, where time would pass and they would live to fight another day. that could be a scenario, so many things on the table now and none of them great. >> the snipers in the d.c. area were at large for several weeks. >> and again two men conspired together to kill people and it was an attack and waited a while and attacked again. and having been living in that area at the time, people were

literally changing their patterns in terms of going to gas stations and shopping centers there is a great effort to find these people quickly because an entire region could be living in fear. >> and at the hospital in san bernardino, you were describing that before, it's an and tire region now being warned about shooters on the loose. areas on lockdown and employees told to stay in place and no idea when it's going to end.

it's unclear and that is the mystery about this, what is their motive and what was their mission. >> and right now we have no good information about that. the witnesses are who were in the center at the time are being interviewed. chief ray kelly, we heard from the chief there, the san bernardino chief they are looking at the close circuit cameras that could provide more clues. >> this is a type of event that will generate a lot of phone calls and tips coming in and there may very well be a value but going through that information is a large task. >> what kind of pro cautions are we talking. are schools open and are people told not to go to work. >> in the immediate area there, you will probably see that, a

lockdown type approach. as you get further away from san bernardino, you get more information into the night to give us more direction, there is a lot of concern in that community and other communities in the area. if in fact there is nothing developing during the night. >> pierre you are drying to draw out the need, the perpetrators, and at the same time, and gain some semblance of normal life. >> that is the case in a situation like this, this threat like we have all said over and over, it's active. you want people to not panic but at the same time you heard the chief say we need the public to be alert and they need the public to help them solve this case. and they put out a call for people to say anything they have seen reported, right now they will get a lot of information

from the witnesses as well. brad garret, former fbi special agent, what can they do to find out about special threats against this facilities or like facilities in recent weeks. >> that shouldn't be that difficult george, presumably they were reported to the police, so you will look at that, and you are going to look at any similar type of facility, to provide a similar type of service to see what their threat level has been, or any issues, that would suggest the gunman may have a connection to that location. i'm going to guess that is not going to end up being the case. it's this lack of information, it's just killing everybody to get this stopped, the idea that

you will shut down large areas, it's not realistics, if you don't know the motive how do you start shutting things down, we just don't know, a real tricky thing, and one thing extremist groups love to do is try to punish us financially and every time we have one of these it does that. >> it certainly does, lets go to john cone former homeland security official. it's hard in these early hours flying blind. >> what is right george, and the other thing this event illustrates and we have been saying this over the past year and year and a half, we have to be prepared for these types of mass casualties attacks even when we don't have intelligence, they change the way they communicate and have more encrypted technologies and inspiring people to act

independently, domestic groups and individuals motivated by some ideological purpose to commit this attack, our intelligence systems were not designed to pick up on these people and we have to use tools that local police have been exist within the community. >> what would that mean john? >> it's kind of ironic at the same time we have a conversation going around the country about police communication with the community, they will need to communicate better with the community, they need to educate the community members about what to look for and those community members have to be willing to communicate with police when they see things that cause concern. >> right now, as you say we are not equipped at the national level to deal with those kinds

of threats, or haven't been. our intelligence capabilities as robust as they are, are not intended to pick up on a small group of individuals that may be planning a domestic attack and communicating with a foreign terrorist organization or working with a broader group of extremists, that means we have to build and use new tool, basically local tools to be better able to pick up on these threats. >> and one thing we have seen coming out of the attacks in paris, people that were in the system and in prison and on the watch list, were still able to slip through the cracks and organize in the dark. >> exactly right. and there is two factors driving that, one the sheer number of people that were beginning to see across europe and the united

states, canada, and australia, who are willing and focused on carrying out the attacks. and they just exceed the resources of security and law enforcement organizations to monitor. and secondly the way they have changed the way they communicate to avoid detention by our intelligence resources or not communicating with anyone at all because they are working independent of these organizations. >> pierre thomas, they are watching several individuals that have traveled overseas or had some kinds of can't with isis, for fear of this kind of attacks. >> several dozen under 24 hour blanket surveillance, people thought to sympathize with isis, a major effort, over 900 terrorist investigations underway nationwide and hundreds involved with isis sympathies.

>> what are motivated by political concerns. >> we saw a case in virginia where a number of men were accused of plotting a race war and attacking african-american churches or synagogues and those things are on the table as well and they can't take their eye off of any of them. >> there is a situation where an individual called in a threat to kill students at the university of chicago. i want to go on the scene of the hospital in southern california where several of the injure have had been brought in, we were discussing it, the local police are asking directly for help from the public, they say they are seeking three suspects that fled the scene. >> absolutely, there is heavy security here at the hospital, we know they have received four patients and at least three more

are on the way and possibly more and what you are talking about is the extra security, the san bernardino police department are on scene, and their presence is heavily felt for almost every car there say security officer or police officer one or the other. the other thing i saw, officers from the union pacific railroad fleet, they are on the official side of the hospital standing in the parking lot with their guns drawn, they are here to protect any potential target they just want to help. this hospital is currently undergoing renovations, and off to the other side they are building a gigantic parking structure and there are areas around this parking lot, and i spoke with folks that are in charge of that, and their construction is brought to a halt and it adds another layer and hurdle for folks to deal with things at this homt. officials are telling me that family members are gathering at

the hospital and they have an area for them near the cafeteria where the family can go and that is heavily guarded. they don't want anybody there including the media, they want to give them their privacy, family is told to go into the cafeteria. we haven't received anymore word on the conditions of people brought here. there were six patients transported to arrow head hospital. this hospital is only four miles away from the scene. and george i'm having a little problem here hearing you but i will send it back to you for now and we'll continue to bring you updates. >> candace thank you. i want to go to matt gutman at the regional center. we don't have matt right now. brian ross come back to you on this.

they looking for voice, age, height. >> how many information does the police need to determine whether these individuals were in their system in some fashion? >> it's difficult if there are no fingerprints if they were wearing gloves and no dna left behind. this is a huge mystery of a kind that you rarely see for law enforcement, usually there is some solid lead and without that vehicle -- >> there is some claim of responsibility. >> police agencies have

confidential informants, and that is another network that will be engaged with, i think fairly aggressively. >> matt gutman is wired up at the scene. what are you seeing now matt? >> reporter: we spoke to an eyewitness somewhere there. we gleaned that the irc is in fact evacuated and has been cleared of any suspected threat but the buildings around it, those people are still on lockdown and told that there is an active shooter situation, they are told to shelter in place and not being allowed to leave. that is one of the issues we are going to have. there are so many eyewitnesss, the owner of this company with whom we spoke. glen wool worth, he saw the scene unfold, he saw the gun

fire and the man running towards him saying there was an active shooting situation, he had a side arm and ran to the scene and saw and heard the shooting, he is one eyewitness, he only saw one person climb into the black suv and did not see three others, his view was slightly obscured by trees but what is one of the things investigators will come up against. there were so many people, not only in the irc, 670 employees, not only in the hotel but the office building next to that, gathering everybody eyewitness testimony and distilling it into something that makes absolute nse will take time and that may have hampered some of the investigation so far and that makes officers realize that maybe those three suspects believed to have shot up that event going on in the first floor of that building, they may

have in fact gotten away. >> it seems to be quieter there now, is there any activity inside of those buildings right now? >> reporter: actually not, there is a water treatment plant here we are standing, you can see there is fire trucks and ambulances down there. there is still a tremendous amount of police activity, and just beyond that railroad there is probably still 200 or 300 police cars, we are still seeing officers from s.w.a.t. teams heavily armed and rifles at the ready and the tension we saw earlier is completely abated. we saw officers, probation officers, highway patrol running towards the scene. clearly there was a sense of alarm and so much tense here still, they were armed and ready to go and noises they heard and

reports of gun fire and now the tension here has subsided but there are so many officers here trying to figure out what in fact has gone on. >> one final question matt, is everyone that was inside of the building brought to the golf course and other areas around the inland regional center are they all gone now? >> it appears so, everybody that was in the irc, the center for developmental disabilities seems to have been evacuated and they were icated by s.w.a.t. teams. the lockdown remains in other parts of this area, other office buildings are on lockdown people told to remain sheltering in place. we are not sure what is going on here, that speakers to the fact that these armed officers behind us don't exactly know what the

situation is george. whether or not there are armed men on the loose or their are devices still loose, that investigation is still going on. >> i want to go to brad garret right now. we heard from matt, much quieter on the scene right now but police are still describing it as an active shooter situation even though we heard from the chief that the assailants fled the scene, as you showed it on screen, you have three buildings to clear and until those are completely cleared be the on scene commander says i'm going to give this a green light we can now leave, it's going to remain active and go back to the potential of at least explosives, if that plays into this, it will clearly be treated as an active scene until those are neutralized. >> right now no activity there,

this unfolded coming up on four hours ago on the west coast in san bernardino, california, no shooting after the first several minutes and from everything we know, a massive manhunt going on right now brad garret across southern, california? >> exactly, so this is going to be a guess, that there was maybe a switched vehicle, nobody saw that so the person or persons, if we are up to three, are now in some unknown vehicle that could have been prestaged. it's driven by what intelligence can you get from the public and get from cameras, did one of these cameras capture a license plate of the black suv, i think steve mentioned this earlier. the ability even if you have a partial tag to be able to run it, could give them information particularly if it's a rental vehicle, they should find that shortly based on a partial tag

and all of these things become critical in who are these guys and where are they. >> do that point, check me if i'm wrong here, i can't -- are you watching abc news coverage of the mass shootings in san bernardino, california, abc news will continue at 6:30, but "action news" is now. "action news" delaware valley's leading news program. with ducis rogers, meteorologist, cecily tynan and jim gardner. san bernardino, california, a name now tragically added to the list of locations of mass shootings in america. this has been an afternoon of chaos and tragedy in the city, 60 miles east of los angeles, three gunmen burst into the building called the inland

regional center, a builder for people with disabilities and proceeded to open fire, up to 14 people were killed and nobody is in custody and the scene is not secured and the perpetrators are unknown. it is wednesday night and the big story on "action news" tonight continues to unfold in the city of 215,000 people a place nicknamed, the friendly city. chad pradelli is live in the satellite center tonight, chad what do we know at this time. >> jim, up to three gunman remain at large, 14 people are killed and others injured, but law enforcement warns that the numbers could increase. authorities say one to three suspects entered the facility and probably fled in a black suv and sheriff deputies and police

responded and the building was evacuated and survivors were moved to a nearby golf course. gary pettitte arrived after receiving text messages from his daughter. >> she texed and said there was a shooter and that they shot 20 people and they were hiding. >> marco's wife was also inside and she managed to get out. >> she said the guy came in next to her office and i guess started shooting. >> the motive is unclear, the scene is the inland regional center, a facility for people with disabilities and it was hosting an event this morning. that is where most of the victims were located. they called it an active shooter situation as heavily armed law enforcement cleared room by room several suspicious devices were