California mass shooting suspects identified

San Bernardino, United States, Dec 3 (EFE).- The San Bernardino police in the U.S. state of California identified a couple, who were killed in a gunfight with the police, as perpetrators of the mass shooting at a social services facility, in which 14 people died and 17 others were wounded.

At a press conference, San Bernardino police chief Jarrod Burguan identified the suspects as a man called Syed Farook, 28 and a U.S. national and his partner, a 27-year-old woman named Tashfeen Malik, whose nationality remains unknown.

Burguan explained Farooq worked for the San Bernardino County as a specialist in environment at the Inland Regional Center, the social services facility where the shooting occurred.

He had left a pre- Christmas party in the building on Wednesday angrily only to return later armed and with his partner to carry out the shooting.

The police chief said investigation led them to a house in the nearby Redlands locality, where they spotted the suspects' vehicle and began pursuing it, which resulted in the deaths of Farooq and Malik.

One officer was wounded, who however is not in danger, according to the police.

Around 20 officers were involved in the gunfight with the two suspects.

Meanwhile, the Loma Linda Medical hospital said two of those injured in the mass shooting are in critical state, but did not comment on the condition of the remaining casualties.

Although initially the investigation considered the possibility of involvement of a third person, it is currently focusing on the hypothesis the couple were the only ones responsible for the shooting.

The police say the motive for the shooting is still unknown but claimed it was pre-planned and not spontaneous, and did not rule out terrorist motivations as the couple came prepared and went about as if they were on a mission.

The shooting began at around 11 a.m. as the two dead suspects, armed with assault rifles and handguns broke loose at the Inland Regional Center, from where three bombs were also recovered.

The San Bernardino shooting has left the highest number of deaths in United States since 2012, when another shooting in Sandy hook school in Newtown (Connecticut) left 20 children and six women dead.

U.S. President Barack Obama made a call Wednesday to do away with patterns that have made mass shootings into something "normal" in the country, as the situation "has no parallel anywhere else in the world."