SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — Hours after as many as three gunmen stormed a service center for people with disabilities here on Wednesday, killing at least 14 people and wounding at least 17 others, the police engaged in a shootout in a nearby suburban neighborhood that officials said left one suspect dead, one most likely wounded and a third suspect on the run.
One officer initially came across the suspects as they drove in a black sport utility vehicle less than two miles from where the shooting took place. According to reports, the officer tried to engage with the people in the S.U.V., who put up a fight. It was unclear what happened during that initial exchange, but dozens of heavily armed police in tactical gear quickly descended on the scene. One officer was injured in the shootout, a police official said.
Witnesses described a wild gun battle, with the men in the S.U.V. firing on the police and the police firing back as nearby residents hid in their homes behind locked doors. When the shooting stopped, one gunman remained on the run, officials said, and law enforcement officers, many armed in tactical gear, swarmed the neighborhood, going door-to-door hunting for the suspect.
Video footage from television helicopters circling overhead showed a bullet-riddled black S.U.V., similar to the one witnesses described seeing the suspects flee in earlier in the day.
One suspect could be seen on street outside the S.U.V. in a bloody pool. Another was still in the vehicle, but that person’s condition was unclear. A manhunt continued for the third person, with law enforcement setting up a perimeter around the area where the shootout took place.
“There were shots fired, officers were involved, and a suspect is down,” a police spokeswoman, Sgt. Vicki Cervantes, said.
The shootout was a latest development in a bloody day that started around 11 a.m., when three gunmen pulled up in a dark S.U.V. at the complex of buildings occupied by the Inland Regional Center, a service center for people with disabilities. The motive in the shooting remained unclear, but Chief Jarrod Burguan of the San Bernardino police said it was clear that the gunmen had planned the deadly assault.
“They came prepared for what they did and they were on a mission,” the chief said. “They came in with a purpose.” He alluded to reports that the men may have worn masks and body armor.
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