Mass Shooting in San Bernardino, California

[Content Note: Guns; violence; death.]

There has been another mass shooting, this time in San Bernardino, California. At the time of this posting, the situation is still active, and details are limited. The LA Times reports:

Up to 20 people were shot Wednesday at a social services office in San Bernardino, and officials said they were looking for one or more "active shooters."

The San Bernardino Fire Department said the shooting took place in the 1300 block of Waterman Avenue, near Orange Show Road.

Sgt. Vicki Cervantes, a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino Police Department, told reporters at the scene up to three shooters were reported inside the Inland Regional Center. Officers have not secured the building and are going door to door.

The suspects, she said, are heavily armed and were possibly wearing body armor.

"It's a very active scene," Cervantes said. "It's very fluid."

Some reports are estimating that as many as 20 people have been shot, with 12 fatalities. I want to stress that this is very preliminary information at this point and has not been confirmed by authorities.

It has also been reported that there is a Planned Parenthood facility several blocks away, but there is no suggestion at this point that the clinic was the intended target.

The actual site of the shooting, the Inland Regional Center, "provides services to disabled people and others in need."

The organization's website states: "Inland Regional Center was built on the foundation of three core values — independence, inclusion, and empowerment. In following these core values, we hope to help provide each individual with a service system that helps identify and eliminate barriers for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families so they can closely live a typical lifestyle."

A SWAT team is actively searching for the gunmen, and a bomb squad has been deployed to the scene.

I am so sad and so angry for the victims and survivors of this shooting.

I will update this post as additional information becomes available. As always, please respect our usual request to keep these threads image-free.

UPDATE 1: Photographer Micah Escamilla tweeted that the sheriff was overheard saying, "All we can tell you is it's pretty bad."

Hillary Clinton appears to be the first presidential candidate to respond to the shooting, tweeting: "I refuse to accept this as normal. We must take action to stop gun violence now."

UPDATE 2: Federal law enforcement sources say that police "used a robot to detonate a suspicious device found on the premises." There are also reports from eyewitnesses that some or all of the gunmen fled the scene in a black SUV.

UPDATE 3: Police have confirmed there were fatalities, but have not said how many. I don't even have words, only despair.

UPDATE 4: A local hospital spokesperson confirms that there are at least seven people being treated for injuries. Four currently being treated, with three more on the way.

UPDATE 5: While again cautioning this information is still very preliminary, a local reporter tweeted: "Witness tells us that an event honoring County personnel was going on in the conference center at IRC. Shooters entered there." If accurate, that may give some insight into the motive for attacking this facility and who the intended targets were.

UPDATE 6: President Obama, on today's shooting: "We have pattern now of mass shootings that has no parallel anywhere else in world." And this is where I am with the elected officials (I'm looking at you, Republicans) who have nothing to offer but prayers: "Dear Elected Officials: You are elected to take meaningful action, not to offer prayers. Fucking do something meaningful. No Love, Liss." At this point, if you've nothing to offer but prayers, you have nothing to offer period. To be an elected official who offers naught but prayers is to offer cruel indifference.

UPDATE 7: At a press conference, San Bernardino County Chief Jarrod Burguan just said: "What we have so far is information to the effect that up to 3 people had entered the building and opened fire on the people in the building. We have preliminary numbers of upwards of 14 people that are dead and up to 14 people that are injured." My god.

UPDATE 8: Also from the press conference: An FBI spokesperson said, "We do not know if this was a terrorist incident." Burguan, also quoted above, however, said: "We do not have any identification of who these suspects were [but] at minimum we have a domestic terrorist type situation that occurred."

UPDATE 9: MSNBC's Chris Hayes tweeted: "Officer says no indication it's 'terrorism in the traditional sense people might be thinking of' which is a hell of a euphemism." It sure is. Translation: We don't believe the shooters are Muslim. Meanwhile: The "Crazy Lone Gunman" brigade must be scrambling to figure out how they're going to minimize three gunmen working in concert with an obvious plan.

UPDATE 10: "Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, one of the most outspoken advocates for gun control in Congress, has released a statement on the shooting, which is the worst mass shooting since a gunman killed 26 people at a school in his state in 2012: 'My heart aches for the people of San Bernardino. I cannot express the profound sadness I feel each time a new community grieves and endures the same pain that brought Newtown to its knees three years ago this month. As we await the facts from the chaos on the ground, I can only pray that America's leaders will do something—anything—that prevents more communities from knowing this sorrow. Congress' number one responsibility is to keep our constituents safe, and not a single senator or member of Congress can go back to their state this weekend and claim that they are doing their job.'"

UPDATE 11: Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus tweets: "Our thoughts and prayers are with #SanBernardino." Terrific. The government doesn't exist to issue thoughts and prayers, jackass.

UPDATE 12: [CN: Description of shooting] From the Guardian: "Police have disabled a black SUV and have surrounded it with armored cars and cruisers—they do not know whether the suspect car is related to the shooting but shots have been fired. Separately they have stopped one man in a parking lot after he tried to flee on foot. There appears to be at least one person lying prone at the disabled SUV, which footage shows to be shot through with bullet holes. Dozens of officers in small teams have gathered at a distance around the car, whose windshields were smashed out with gunshots. The SUV's driver-side and passenger door are hanging open."

UPDATE 13: San Bernardino Police Sgt. Vicki Cervantes has confirmed that 14 people were killed and 17 people were injured. One suspect is "confirmed down."

UPDATE 14: Reports are that one suspect in the SUV is now in custody and two have been shot. But there is still no official confirmation at this point that this incident is connected to the earlier shooting.

UPDATE 15: Reports are that one suspect is dead, one is injured, and one is in custody. One officer was hurt during the shoot-out with the suspects, but his injuries are reportedly not life-threatening.

UPDATE 16: "According to a federal law enforcement official, authorities believe that one man angrily left the event that county employees were holding Wednesday morning at the Inland Regional Center. The man, they believe, returned with 'one or two' others and opened fire." I have seen this reported only by the LA Times, but, if accurate, it's a very important piece of information.

UPDATE 17: Via the Guardian: "After updating reporters on the condition of five shooting victims in this hospital, a spokeswoman for the Loma Linda University Medical Center said: 'We're all shaken by this. We're all bothered by this. I think we should all go home to our loved ones and understand this could happen anytime and we have to be prepared for it." The new normal.

UPDATE 18: The police confirm that two suspects were killed during the shoot-out with police, one man and one woman. The third suspect, a man, has been detained and is in police custody.

UPDATE 19: WOW.

An early look at tomorrow’s front page… GOD ISN’T FIXING THIS: https://t.co/eKUg5f03ec pic.twitter.com/j4gEFg9YtJ

— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) December 3, 2015

In case you can't view the image in the embedded tweet, it is a preview of tomorrow's New York Daily News front page, reading in giant letters: "GOD ISN'T FIXING THIS." Below that, text reads: "As latest batch of innocent Americans are left lying in pools of blood, cowards who could truly end gun scourge continue to hide behind meaningless platitudes." And surrounding the text are images of tweets from Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, Rand Paul, and Paul Ryan, with the word "prayers" highlighted.