THE Californian town of San Bernardino was in a state of siege last night as police hunted for up to three gunmen in military dress who opened fire at a centre for disabled people, killing at least 14.
Schools and offices were ordered to barricade everyone inside their buildings, as police cordoned off a swathe of the city, 100km east of Los Angeles.
The FBI said that so far, it was unclear if the shooting was a “terrorist incident”.
San Bernardino police spokeswoman Sergeant Vicki Cervantes said initial reports suggested that up to three gunmen arrived at the Inland Regional Centre.
Officers were last night going door to door, searching for the suspects. They are said to be heavily armed and possibly wearing body armour.
Some reports suggested that three men drove away from the scene in a black 4×4, leaving behind a suspect package.
Terry Petit said his daughter was hiding inside the building and had heard gunshots.
She had sent him an SMS saying: “Shooting at my work, people shot. In the office waiting for cops. Pray for us. I am locked in an office.”
He said his daughter believed between 10 and 20 people had been shot.
The boyfriend of another woman who had barricaded herself inside the building said she told him she could see bodies lying on the ground.
A school around the corner had sealed its doors, with 150 children shut inside.
The shooting came five days after a man described as a strange loner opened fire at a Planned Parenthood centre in Colorado, killing three people, including a policeman.
After a five-hour stand-off Robert Dear, 57, surrendered to the police.
The latest incident is the 352nd mass shooting so far this year, according to the shooting tracker website.
The day before the latest mass murder, President Barack Obama once again railed against his country’s gun culture.
Asked at the Paris climate change conference to comment on the Planned Parenthood shooting, Obama said: “I say this every time we’ve got one of these mass shootings – this just doesn’t happen in other countries.
“We are, rightly, determined to prevent terrorist attacks wherever they occur, whether in the United States or with friends and allies like France.
“And yet, in the United States, we have the power to do more to prevent what is just a regular process of gun homicides that is unequalled by multiples of five, six, 10.”
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