LOS ANGELES – As their colleagues
were cut down by gunfire, three men rushed a shooter in an attempt to thwart
the San Bernardino terror attack, according to an in-depth report of the
massacre that provided new details Friday.
The three county employees were shot in the rampage by a colleague and
his wife. The report did not say if any survived, though a federal prosecutor
hailed their sacrifice.
"These victims had no chance to protect themselves as a result of
the callous perpetration of violence, while others heroically sacrificed
themselves in an attempt to stop the shooting," U.S. Attorney Eileen
Decker said in a statement. "In the face of this unfathomable suffering,
the law enforcement personnel and citizens who put themselves in harm's way to
help others exemplifies the very best that our country has to offer."
The report by the Police Foundation, a policy study group, and the
Department of Justice provided a detailed account of the pandemonium that
unfolded as the Islamic extremists opened fire at a Dec. 2 meeting of the man's
colleagues and, minutes later, as police first arrived at the scene of horrific
bloodshed.
Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, killed 14 people and
wounded 22 others in the massacre at a training event and holiday gathering of
the San Bernardino County Health Department, where Farook worked as a food
inspector.
Farook had been present at the meeting but got up and left before
returning a short time later clad in black, wearing a mask and armed with a
semi-automatic rifle. His wife was also wearing black and toting an assault
rifle.
The first victims had been shot outside the Inland Regional Center. One
appeared to have been eating lunch at a picnic table and the other was found
still holding his cellphone, according to the report based on interviews with
over 200 witnesses, law enforcement officers and others.
Colleagues inside had heard popping sounds, but many didn't recognize the
sound of gunfire until the doors burst open and they saw a man in black start
spraying bullets. They didn't recognize him or his wife. People ran in horror,
some dove to the floor and others fell from the fusillade.
Even then, some weren't sure what was happening, with one county official
taking cover and thinking it was the "most glorified training I had ever
seen."
"Probably on the second or third clip, it finally clicked that this
wasn't an exercise," he said. The report provided confidentiality to
witnesses, victims and first responders.
The couple calmly reloaded several times over the course of two to three
minutes before they left, and appeared to look for signs victims might still be
alive, shooting one or more bullets into those who made a sound or moved.
One injured woman asked a colleague "to call her mother and say
goodbye for her," according to a draft of the report obtained by The
Associated Press, but not included in the final version because of its graphic
nature. The colleague tried to assure her she'd be OK, but the woman replied,
"I'm not, I'm bleeding from the mouth" before closing her eyes for
good.
The report, which was first written about by The New York Times, gives
law enforcement high marks for their response, though it also points out areas
of confusion or challenges law enforcement faced as they encountered the
startling aftermath of the violence.
The carnage was described as looking "like a bomb had gone
off." Smoke from gunpowder filled the room and water poured down from a
fire sprinkler struck by gunfire.
"It was the worst thing imaginable," said a patrol officer who
was one of the first four officers to enter the scene. "Some people were
quiet, hiding, others were screaming or dying, grabbing at your legs because
they wanted us to get them out, but our job at the moment was to keep
going."
The officer regretted having to leave the casualties, but they thought
the shooters were still in the building and had to first make sure it was safe.
A rookie officer took a report from one of the survivors, who said Farook
had left the meeting early and that there was something about the shooter's
body language that looked similar.
That led officers to Farook and Malik's apartment in nearby Redlands
hours later. The two left in a rented black SUV and were trailed by several
undercover officers. When a sergeant in a squad car joined in and tried to pull
the couple over, his vehicle was hit by gun fire.
Farook then abruptly stopped and he and Malik began shooting at officers
in the street, who took cover behind vehicles and returned fire.
The couple shot 81 bullets at police before being outgunned by two dozen
officers who fired 440 rounds. One officer was shot in the leg and a deputy was
grazed by a bullet.
Farook was struck 25 times, mostly in the legs. Malik was shot twice in
the head, and had 13 other wounds.
Police found more than 2,000 rounds of ammo in the vehicle, along with
first-aid equipment.
It wasn't all they left behind. Back at the conference room more than six
hours after the attack, investigators found three pipe bombs in a bag Farook
had left behind. The report said authorities now think they were intended to be
detonated remotely when first responders aided the victims, but the remote
detonating device didn't work.
FOX NEWS
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