party for holiday employees. the suspects are 26-year-old syed farook, and a woman he was in a relationship with, either his girlfriend or wife, 27 cash phone -year-old tashfeen malik. the question is why. >> mr. farook is a county employee, environmental specialist in the public health department has. been employed there for five years. he was at the party. he did leave the party early under some circumstances that were described as angry. that's the information we were following up on when we encountered him back near this residence in redlands which led to the pursue and the officer-involved shooting. and it's now confirmed he is one of the deceased. >> he was at the party. he left the party. he came back and opened fire. the initial reports had three gunmen in the attack, a third person was held for questioning, but police are fairly certain there were just two shooters, both of whom are now dead. the bomb squad finally disposed of a few explosive devices found at the shooting scene. they finished that up just a few hours ago. want to bring in cnn's john vause live this morning in san bernardino. what's the latest? >> we had a lot of details overnight from authorities here, from law enforcement officials about what happened. syed farook was a county employee, had the confrontation at the christmas party. officials say he left angry, and that's when he came back with his wife, girlfriend, shot and killed 14 people. they left in an suv. we heard that from a number of witnesses. that black suv. because they had his name, syed farook, that led them to this location in red lands. this is where they have a townhouse linked to farook. they've been searching that, trying to get access to that with robots. nobody has gone in there yet because of concerns of explosives. there's no tangible proof at this point that there are explosives or booby-traps inside the down house. police are concerned because they found explosives inside that community center. which they had detonated and had been trying to clear. out of an abundance of caution, they evacuated a number of homes around this townhouse, told other resident here's to stay in place. they cleared out an area that they consider safe. they are taking their time getting into the apartment. they are now confident there were just the two shooters involved, syed farook and his wife or girlfriend, tashfeen malik. as we say, this is an active investigation. there's the crime scene, there's the townhouse here in redlands and farook's office. they're now trying to find out who else might be involved. and they're looking for a motive. at this point they're not calling it terrorism but not willing to rule that out. everyone wants to know why, that includes farook's family. in the last couple of hours, we did hear from his brother-in-law, he told reporters that he didn't see this coming. nobody in the family saw this coming. >> i have no idea. i have no idea why he would do that. why would he do something like this? i have absolutely no idea. i'm in shock myself. >> i cannot express how sad i am for, you know, what happened today. i mean, i -- my condolences to the people who lost their lives. very sad that people lost their lives and the victims out there. i wish speedy recovery to them. i'm in shock that something like this could happen. >> again, we come back to that question of why. why did farook and his partner go on this killing spree. what was the motive? what authorities are hoping for, once they get access to the townhouse and look at farook's office, they may be able to piece all of this together and come up with an idea as to why 14 people were killed here. 17 others wounded. many of them remain in critical condition. john? >> interesting this morning, we're hearing this couple left their child. they had after 6-month-old child, and they left the child with the kid's grandmother in the morning before leaving, they said, to go to a doctor's appointment. >> exactly. this is coming from a spokesperson from an islamic center in the area saying that the couple dropped off the little girl. the grandmother at the time didn't think anything was out of the ordinary. she was minding the baby, the child. and then when she started hearing these reports on television of a shooting at the inland regional center, she knew that farook worked there, she became concerned. she repeatedly tried to call, there was no answer on the cell phones. that's when she became concerned. apparently the first she learned of it, we're told, is when she was contacted by a reporter asking if she was related to syed farook. much like the brother-in-law we just heard from, she was left stunned by the news. >> four weapons, we understand, john, involved at this point. all bought legally, two long guns, two handguns? >> yeah, this is another angle of the investigation, which officials here have been following up. the guns were all purchased legally. two linked directly to syed farook. two of them linked to somebody else who we are told officials are trying to track down, talk to them and find out how the guns were purchased legally, how they were used in this mass shooting. >> so, what's interesting about this, it was obviously well planned out. this took some time. there are possible explosive devices involved. but at the same time there might have been some trigger at this party? what are investigators saying about those two elements of this that seem sort of opposed but somehow linked? >> well, we heard from san bernardino's police chief who said this went way beyond a spur of the moment thing. there was a lot of planning involved. the theory is was this pre-planned, was that argument at the holiday party the trigger which set this chain of events into motion or was it planned to happen all along? at this point they don't know. there are interesting details about the explosives they found inside the community center, apparently there was a bag of rudimentary explosives and a remote control car which authorities believe they were going to use somehow to detonate remotely. they did find a remote control for that vehicle, and those explosives in the black suv, which they used to leave the scene. so the working theory is either they were going to detonate those explosives and they were simply out of range and that part of the plan didn't work, or they changed their mind, didn't go through with that part of the plan. there was a lot of planning. they will be looking to see if anyone else was involved in the planning in all of this. >> wow. >> third person was detained for questioning, not believed to be a shooter at this point. john vause in san bernardino, surprising it could have been even worse with those mrexplosis found at the scene. >> a lot more information to come. it's a profoundly traumatic day for those trapped inside the inland regional center as the gunmen stalked the building. this woman was barricaded inside a room with 50 others. >> became all so real when we had to lock ourselves in the conference room. not get out until law enforcement said it was okay to leave the building. from there we had to come out with our hands up, be escorted away to the golf course and stay there for hours. hours. seeing clothing of deceased ones in the street. people crying. co-workers crying. us wanting to get to our children, families and loved one ones. >> that was the shooting itself. about four hours later was the shootout when officers closed in on the suspects in the suv. you can hear it all unfold on the radio traffic. you can hear how calm the dispatchers were coordinating this effort with gunfire in the backgroun background. >> last seen towards gould. do we have a clothing description. >> male, dark skinned is all i have on this frequency. >> we don't need more people here unless it's a s.w.a.t. team. >> 902 what is your location? >> san bernardino and shedden. one guy down. one guy in the back of a car. >> we have a suspect vehicle's car. we're going ahead and extract him. wait for the bear cat. >> copy. >> right now we have one down outside the car. one down inside the car. from what we understand, one is on the run. >> for hours difficult for people to know what was going on, what kind of danger they were in. and emotional reunions happening at a community center nearby where many of the 700 inland regional center evacuees were taken. many were on the edge getting updates from loved ones as the shooting unfolded, many of them by text. >> she said the guy came into her office and started shooting. they locked themselves in her office. they seen bodies on the floor and she said right now ambulance are taking people out in stretchers. she was able to get out the building already. there's still people inside. >> she told me she thought it was a drill. they had been practiced drills. they were shuttled into a room. police showed up. thank god there weren't more casualties. >> did she text or call? >> she's outside with the fire department earlier. >> did she text you? >> she text me right now what did she say about what she saw or heard. >> she wasn't too clear. she was shaken up. >> emergency situation at my work, active shooter on-site. we're all locked in offices on the floor. please pray for us. as a parent, as a father, that's the worst thing you can have come across your phone. >> a long, awful day for the people of san bernardino, california right now. i imagine many still up watching this trying to figure out what's going on. the latest. two suspects dead at this point. 14 people dead. 17 injured. we'll have the latest on the breaking news of this massacre from san bernardino, california. president obama weighed in and plus new information about possible travels that the gunmen took. news coverage of a mass shooting in san bernardino, california. the investigation into the attack is still unfolding, but here's what we know. police say around 11:00 a.m., two suspects, syed farook and tashfeen malik burst into a holiday luncheon at the inland regional center and started shooting. 14 people were killed. 17 injured. police say they have no clear picture of the shooting's motive, only that farook worked in the health department with many in the luncheon, for about five years. farook left that event abruptly. that led police to go by farook's townhouse when he sped off in a black suv, police gave chase. both he and malik, who may have been his wife or girlfriend, died in a shootout with law enforcement. police say they are just beginning to process the inland regional center crime scene and remove the bodies of the victims. >> i indicated early on we have victims at the scene. up until within the last couple of hours, we have been working on what we felt were explosive devices left at the scene. we confirmed we believe those were explosive devices. i think about an hour or two ago, the bomb squad disposed of those particular items, so we are just now getting in there and starting to process the crime scene per se. i don't have the identification on any of the victims at this point. >> they found a bag at the crime scene with some kind of remote controlled explosive device that did not go off. they're investigating that. president obama was asked about the shooting in an interview. he told cbs news that san bernardino continues a pattern of gun violence in this country that he says is unique in the world. the president called for a bipartisan political effort to stop or at least reduce such attacks. >> there's some steps we could take. not to eliminate every one of these mass shootings but to improve the odds that they don't happen as frequently. commonsense gun safety laws, stronger background checks. and for those who are concerned about terrorism, you know, some may be aware of the fact that we have a no-fly list where people can't get on planes but those same people who we don't allow to fly could go into a store right now in the united states and buy a firearm and there is nothing we can to the stop them. that's a law that needs to be change. >> he described this issue as the most frustrating in his time as president. >> we are following news on the office party shooting all morning long. 14 killed, 17 wounded. new details coming up next. back to the news out of san bernardino, california. the mass shooting there in a minute. first more breaking news a new verdict for oscar pistorius. the former olympian has been found guilty of murder by the south africa supreme court of appeals. they ruled the original conviction for culpable homicide was flawed and should be adjusted to murder. pistorius was released from prison in october after serving a year of his five-year sentence. he will now be resentenced. >> breaking overnight. british fighter jets launching their first air strikes against isis targets in syria. the air assault coming hours after lawmakers in britain voted in favor now of striking isis strongholds in syria. president obama welcomed the move. germany's parliament is expected to back chancellor angela merkel in a greater military commitment against isis. and an agency in crisis from t the house oversight department describing the secret service. it faults a failure of leadership at the agency and putting cuts imposed by congress. we're following breaking news out of california. 14 people killed, 17 wounded in an office party shooting. the attackers killed by police hours later in another shootout. we're live next. found a missing piece tor and in my asthma treatment. once-daily breo prevents asthma symptoms. breo is for adults with asthma not well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. breo won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. breo opens up airways to help improve breathing for a full 24 hours. breo contains a type of medicine that increases the risk of death from asthma problems and may increase the risk of hospitalization in children and adolescents. breo is not for people whose asthma is well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. once your asthma is well controlled, your doctor will decide if you can stop breo and prescribe a different asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. do not take breo more than prescribed. see your doctor if your asthma does not improve or gets worse. ask your doctor if 24-hour breo could be a missing piece for you. see if you're eligible for 12 months free at mybreo.com. breaking news this morning, 14 people dead, 17 wounded in a california office building massacre. the attackers were killed hours later. a dramatic shootout with police. those attackers have now been identified. welcome back to "early start." >> it's now 30 minutes past the hour. we welcome all of our viewers in the u.s. and around the world. breaking news this morning, the latest on the shooting in san bernardino, california that left 14 people dead and 17 injured. authorities say two suspect diced in a gun battle with police hours after they burst into a holiday party for employees at the county health department. the city police chief identified the suspects as 28-year-old syed farook and a woman he was in a relationship with, 27-year-old tashfeen malik. authorities have not ruled out terrorism. >> he was at the party, he did leave the party early under some circumstances described as angry. that's the information we were following up on when we encountered him back near thi residence in redlands which led to the pursuit and the officer-involved shooting. as we now confirmed he is one of the deceased. >> initial reports had three gunmen involved in the attack, a third person was involved in the questioning, but police are fairly certain there were only two shooters, both of whom are dead. the bomb squad disposing of explosive devices at the shooting scene just a few hours ago. let's go to john vause live in san bernardino at the scene. there's so much going on in the investigation. what you can say about where things stand now and where the lines of questioning are going. >> michelle, there are a number of different crime scene investigations, which are active as we head into thursday morning. of course there is where the initial shooting took place in san bernardino there is also this townhome here in redlands. this is where police came after receiving a tip that syed farook was involved, after he was the one who left that holiday party and left angry and came back and opened fire with his girlfriend or his wife. not sure what relationship between the two is, they do say there was a relationship and both are now dead. here at this townhome, this was the scene where a few hours ago police and law enforcement officials with the bomb squad were essentially searching this townhome because of fears it may have been booby-trapped or explosive devices. no concrete or tangible proof there were explosive devices here's, but just out of an abundance of caution, because of what happened in past mass shooting events but also because they found those explosives on the initial scene at the inland regional center. here in the townhome at redlands, we know as of this hour police have yet to enter into that townhome because they're simply taking their time. they evacuated a number of residents around the townhome. they told other residents here to shelter in place until given the all clear while they take their time searching this premises. there is another crime scene investigation which is farook's office. he was a county employee, they are look at his office, going through his computers, his writings, looking at the vehicle, that suv riddled with bullets, trying to find anything that may give them an indication of what the motive may have been as to why farook and his partner decided to go on this killing spree on wednesday. why they decided to shoot and kill 14 people and wound 17 others. right now the fbi not ruling out terrorism. but not prepared to call it terrorism either. as for the relatives of farook, they, too, seem to be just as stunned as everyone else. overnight, syed farook's brother-in-law spoke to reporters. he said he never saw this coming. >> i have no idea. i have no idea why he would do that why would he do something like this? i have absolutely no idea. i'm in shock myself. i express my condolences to the people who lost their lives. very sad that people lost their life and the victims out there. i wish a speedy recovery to them and, again, i'm in shock is that something like this could happen. >> we're getting details from police officials here about how quickly they moved in to that community center from the first emergency calls that they received. they were on scene, they tell us, within four minutes of the shooting taking place and the emergency calls coming in. within 15 minutes, they say, they were evacuating the wounded from the scene and treating them there, even though the two shooters, as we now know, farook and malik, his girlfriend or his wife, were still at large. so, police in a massive operation moved very, very quickly to try to get the wounded out of that community center. michelle? >> hundreds of people worked in that people. hundreds of people. so, are you hearing anything out there? is anything being said about what might have gone on with this person? it's interesting that we hear from his brother-in-law, but there still seems to be uncertainty as to what the other shooter's relationship was with -- with him was. was she his wife? girlfriend? it seems like there's some big gaps despite some interviews that have been done. what can you tell us about that? >> there's a degree of confusion, if you'd like, as to what the specific relationship was between farook and malik. we know they had a 6-month-old baby daughter who they left with the child's brother on wednesday morning. they told her they were going to the doctor's. could they look after the little girl. she thought nothing of tun unit she started seeing reports on television about a shooting at the inland regional center. she tried calling farook and malik, there was no answer. the first she heard of it is when she was contacted by a member of the media asking if she was connected to farook because he was the supposed gunman. you mentioned the number of people inside the inland regional center. more than 600 people. many of those on the scene were kept locked down by police for hours and hours and hours because they all had to be interviewed. police had to find out as much as they could about what was happening with farook to try to piece together why they did this. at this point it's not entirely clear. what we heard from officials is that there was an argument a dispute that farook left angry, but the police chief said this was much more than a spur of the moment thing. there was a degree of planning. there were explosives left inside that community center. one thing they're looking for is the planning aspect. did they have help? was anyone else involved in helping these two prepare to carry out that deadly attack? that mass murder inside that community center there as well? what they are hoping is that if they can get inside the townhouse, start looking at the computers, what's on there, the phone records, maybe any writings, what is inside this building also what is inside farook's office. they'll start being able to piece together more of the narrative, more than they have right now. >> so, four guns involved. two long guns, two handguns. we understand all purchased legally over the last few years. we also understand explosives found at the scene including a bag with some kind of fairly -- not intricate but constructed explosive device, john? >> what we heard from police regarding the explosives left inside the community center is that it was a bag full of rudimentary explosives. also some kind of remote control car. the control for that car was later found in the suv. authorities are working on the theory, this is coming from our justice correspondent, evan peres, sources told him the theory they're working on is once they were out of the community center, they were going to use that detonator and remote control to set off those explosives. now either that part of the plan didn't come together because they were out of range, too far away, it just didn't work, or maybe they didn't get around to it and abandoned. that's one of the mysteries here, one of the many questions that authorities have. still many, many days and weeks to come where they can piece this together. they are now slowly putting together all the pieces of the puzzle. >> at a minimum it show there's was planning involved, a device constructed with a remote control. john vause, thank you very much. we'll come back to you in a few minutes. obviously a traumatic day for the hundreds of people trapped inside the inland regional center as the gunmen went inside that building. a woman was barricaded in a room with 50 others, she had no idea what was going on. >> it became so real when we had to lock ourselves in the conference room, and not get out until law enforcement said that it was okay to leave the building. then from there we had to come out with our hands up. be escorted across the street to the golf course and stood there for hours, hours, witnessing clothing of deceased ones in the street. people crying, co-workers crying, us wanting to get to our children, our families, our loved ones. >> hours later offers closed in on the suspect in the suv. this chaotic looking scene in the heart of a neighborhood, and the shootout began but police radio traffic remain cool and collected. the san bernardino police coordinating response. >> last seen headed towards gould. do we have a clothing description? >> male, dark skin is all we have on this frequency. >> we don't need more people here unless there's a s.w.a.t. team. >> what's your exact location sfwhefrnlg? >> we are at san bernardino and shedden. there's one guy down. one guy in the back of a car, we need that bear cat. >> we have the suspect vehicle spotted. we extract him. stand by. wait for the bear cat. >> copy. >> right now we have one down outside the car, one down inside the car. we don't know. hold on. from what we understand, there's one on the run. >> so four hours after the shootings itself, hours of sheer terror in that community. emotional reunions. they took place at a community center nearby where many evacuees were taken. anxious loved ones were on edge during this whole event. getting realtime updates, sometimes by text. >> she said the guy came in next to her office, started shooting. they locked themselves in her office. they seen bodies on the floor. right now ambulances are taking people out of stretchers. she was able to get out of the building already. people are still inside. >> she told me she thought it was a drill. they had been practiced drills. they were shuttled into a room. police showed up. they were taken outside. thank god there weren't more casualties. >> did she text or call? >> she's outside with the fire department. >> did she text you? >> she text me right now what did she say about what she saw or heard. >> she wasn't too clear. she was shaken up. >> this is the way i was introduced to this today. emergency situation at my work, active shooter on-site. we're all locked in offices on the floor. please prafor us. as a parent, as a father, that's the worst thing you can have come across your phone. >> it's interesting, in the age of social media, there's almost an expectation of knowing everything about what was going on, motive early on. but this could take a long time. there's nothing out there that's obvious, you know from these peoples saying why they did this or what led up to it. >> they're in the home now. going through the computers, whatever is there, they could know more this morning. >> right. >> we'll follow breaking news on this california shooting massacre all morning long. new information about those attackers next. and president obama also weighing in on the tragedy. the pursuit of healthier. it begins from the second we're born. because, healthier doesn't happen all by itself. it needs to be earned every day. using wellness to keep away illness. and believing a single life can be made better by millions of others. as a health services and innovation company optum powers modern healthcare by connecting every part of it. so while the world keeps searching for healthier we're here to make healthier happen. breaking news out of san bernardino, california. 14 dead, 17 wounded. the two suspected attackers now killed. the investigation into the whole thing still unfolding. this is what we know at this hour. around 11:00 a.m. local time, two suspects, syed farook and tashfeen malik burst into a holiday party at inland regional center and started shooting. by the time it was over, 14 people were killed. 17 injured. police say at this point they don't have a clear picture of the shooters mo s motive, on he worked there, went to the holiday party and left abruptly. police went to his townhouse. he sped off in a black suv. police followed him. both he and malik died in a shootout with law enforcement. at this point police say they are beginning to process the inland regional center crime scene and remove the bodies of the victims. >> i had indicated early on we have victims at the scene. up until within, i would say, the last couple of hours, we have been working on what we felt were explosive devices left at the scene. we confirmed that those were explosive items, the bomb squad just disposed of those items. we are just getting in there and processing the crime scene. i don't have identification on any of the victims. >> federal authorities are unwilling to declare the attack as terrorism, but they're not ruling it out either. john, i understand you were able to interview someone? >> yeah. i spoke to the -- an executive director with the council on american and islamic relations. a lot of information we've been getting about the suspects have, in fact -- it's been coming from leaders within the local islamic community. and i did get to speak to hassam aluc, and they were quick to come out and condemn the attack and provide details about both suspects this is what he had to say to me. >> joining me now is the executive director for the los angeles chapter of c.a.r.e., the council on american islamic relations, live in los angeles. clearly right now everybody is searching for a motive in all of this. i know you have come out and condemned this attack. clearly you've spoken from the family, we heard from syed farook's brother-in-law. what more can you tell us? >> of course we don't know the motives, the family is devastated like all american the today. filled with sorrow and mourning. we express on their behalf their heartfelt condolences to all the families of the victims injured and killed. pray for whoever is responsible to pay the price for it. the family is devastated like all people. this is the time for us to express solidarity among all of us americans and rejecting whatever the motives whatever t may have been. >> have you had a chance to speak at any lent with the family of syed farook? and if there was any indication -- we heard from the brother-in-law saying no one expected this he had just spoken to him a week ago. what else had the family been saying to you? >> i spoke with them. they're as shocked as anybody else. they had no clue this could happen. this is a -- the suspect is married, has a 6-month-old baby. you wouldn't expect -- they have no reason what made him snap. is it workplace related? mental? twisted ideology? it's unknown to us. all they can do is share with everybody's sorrow and prayers that this is over quickly and that the pain and the suffering of all these families is eased. >> you were very quick to come out and hold a news conference. even had syed farook's brother-in-law there to talk about this. explain to me why you took that actio action. >> well, because we're living in a very difficult time. there's a lot of islam phobia, a lot of sentiment fueled by pundit here's and there trying to blame the whole community for the acts of a few. we're in mourning as a nation after what happened in colorado springs by someone who is also responsible for his act, not the christian community, not the american community. same thing we felt there was a need for our fellow americans to know that all american muslims share with the rest of the country our sorrow today, our shock, and our agony for what happened. it was important for the family. they wanted to make sure that people know how they felt. how devastated they are. and they insisted being here, though they're going through their sorrow as we speak now, they drove all the way to be at the office and speak to fellow americans and say we are today all victims, we stand united in our sorrow. the only way we can come through this is through our solidarity. >> okay. so we shall leave it there. appreciate you being with us. hussam ayloush from c.a.i.r. thank you for being with us. clearly one of the big concerns for islamic leaders are any kind of blowback on the muslim xh community, retribution, even though there's no word on what motive might have been. john? >> all right. we'll check back in with a in a few minutes. the breaks news out of california, the latest on that office shooting. 14 killed, 17 injured two suspects now dead as well. much more information about who they were when "early start's" special coverage continues after this. breaking news this morning, 14 people dead, 17 wounded in a california office building massacre. the attackers killed hours later in a shootout with police. they've now been identified. >> good morning, welcome to "early start." >> it's thursday, december 3rd, it's 5:00 a.m. in the east. we welcome our viewers here in the u.s. and around the world. breaking news this morning, the very latest in the shooting in san bernardino, california that left 14 people dead and 17 injured. authorities say two suspects died in a gun battle with police hours after they burst into a holiday party for employees of the county health department. the city police chief identified the dead suspects as 28-year-old syed farook and a woman he was in a relationship with, 27-year-old catashfeen ruled ou terrorism. >> mr. farook is a county employee. he works with a title as an environmental specialist in the public health department and has been employed there for five years. he was at the party. he did leave the party early under some circumstances that were described as angry or something of that nature. that is the information that we were following up on when we encountered him back near this residence in redlands, which led to the pursuit and the officer-involved shooting. as we have now confirmed, he's one of the deceased. >> initial reports had three gunman involved in the attack. and there was a third person who was held for questioning, but police now say they're fairly certain there were two