Wednesday's mass shooting at a Southern California center for the developmentally disabled came on the heels of other U.S. massacres but differed from most in key ways, including the involvement of multiple people, including a woman, and an apparently well-planned escape route.
ADVERTISEMENT
Massacre differs from lone-wolf shootings
By contrast, Wednesday's attack took place in a little-known location and was more likely to affect families of the disabled and county employees.
San Bernardino, California shooting.
Recommended articles
In the San Bernardino area near the site of the attack that killed 14, police said a man and a woman dressed in tactical gear died in a gunfight with police, as the FBI said the agency was considering the possibility that the shooting could be a terrorist attack.
"These are people that came prepared," San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said in a news conference. "They were dressed and equipped in a way that indicates they were prepared. They were armed with long guns, not handguns."
The attack in San Bernardino, a city of about 200,000 about 60 miles (100 km) east of Los Angeles, was perplexing, as police struggled to determine a motive and to find the shooters, who had fled in a black SUV.
ADVERTISEMENT
It did not bear the hallmarks of a lone-wolf killing, yet differed in key ways from attacks like those perpetrated by the group known as Islamic State or other Jihadists, U.S. officials said.
For example, these officials said, the Islamic State attacks in Paris last month deliberately focused on public places where carnage would have the biggest shock value and frighten residents the most.
The San Bernardino shooting came just days after a shooter opened fire in a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado, killing three people and wounding nine others before surrendering to police after a bloody siege lasting several hours inside the facility.
In October, a gunman killed his English professor and eight others at a community college in Oregon, and in August, a television reporter and cameraman were fatally ambushed by a former employee of their Roanoke, Virginia, television station while they were interviewing a woman on live TV.
All told, there have been about 350 mass shootings in the United States so far in 2015, defined as incidents in which four or more people were shot, according to the crowd-sourced website shootingtracker.com, which keeps a running tally of mass shootings.
ADVERTISEMENT
But whereas in most shooting incidents involved just one shooter - a man who frequently killed himself or was killed by police at the scene - Wednesday's massacre involved a man and a woman. Police detained a third person who was running away from the scene, but said late Wednesday that they believed there were only two shooters.
Authorities were also not ruling out the involvement of additional people in planning the event and the shooters' escape, police said.
JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!
ADVERTISEMENT
Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:
Email: eyewitness@pulse.com.gh
Recommended articles
‘Dumsor’ challenges will end in a few days – ECG Board Chairman assures Ghanaians
We’ll prosecute corrupt appointees under Akufo-Addo’s govt – Prof. Opoku-Agyeman
How First and Second Ladies rejected and refunded all allowances given to them since 2017
Russian Deputy Defence Minister, Ivanov detained for accepting large bribes
Vice President Dr. Bawumia meets Pope Francis in Rome
Payment of salaries to spouses of President, Vice President illegal – Supreme Court
Celebrating a Maternal Pillar: The enduring legacy of Comfort Naa Momo Amugi
Akufo-Addo tasks the Finance Ministry, GRA to renegotiate the SML contract
