California police shoot dead two suspects in ‘assault-style clothing’ after 14 die in gun rampage at holiday banquet

Masked assailants armed with assault rifles opened fire on a holiday banquet for county employees in San Bernardino on Wednesday, killing 14 people and plunging a nation already on edge about terrorism and mass shootings into hours of tense uncertainty.

The massacre at the Inland Regional Centre set off a surreal day in which hundreds cowered in their offices, schools went on lockdown, SWAT teams swarmed neighbourhoods and a four-hour manhunt played out on live TV. The finale was a gunbattle on a residential street that left two suspects dead.

San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said investigators had not determined a motive for the shooting, but an official at the FBI, which is working with local agencies, said he could not rule out terrorism as a motive.

“It is a possibility, but we don’t know that yet, and we aren’t willing to go down that road yet,” said David Bowdich, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles office.

Two law enforcement sources identified one of the dead suspects as Syed Farook, 28, a U.S.-born citizen and a five-year employee of the government agency holding the holiday banquet. His co-workers said Farook, a Muslim, had travelled in recent years to the Middle East. The second person killed by police was identified as Tashfeen Malik, 27. Burguan said she was either Farook’s wife or girlfriend.

WATCH: Video from inside the building where the shooting took place