San Bernardino County's Department of Public Health hosts an event in a conference room at one of the buildings that make up the Inland Regional Center complex at 1365 S. Waterman Ave. in San Bernardino. The event begins as a training session in the morning, and was to transition into a Christmas holiday luncheon.
Farook leaves event
According to witnesses at the scene, Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, an inspector with the department, attends. He leaves early.
Syed Rizwan Farook in a DMV photo.
Around 11 a.m.
Attackers enter conference center building
According to San Bernardino police, Farook returns to the event approximately 10-30 minutes after having left. The event is now transitioning into a holiday luncheon. With him is his wife, Tashfeen Malik, 29. Both are wearing tactical attire and armed with assault rifles and semiautomatic handguns. In the ensuing rampage, they fire 65 to 75 rounds, killing 14 and injuring 21. The attackers flee. Police believe that a bullet may have hit a sprinkler, setting off the entire system, which floods the room.
Facebook post
Around the same time as the attack, Malik pledges allegiance to an Islamic State leader in a Facebook posting under a different name, two federal law enforcement officials said. A person familiar with the post but not authorized to publicly comment said the statement was posted about the same time that the holiday party shooting began.
Tashfeen Malik (via ABC News)
911 call
Emergency services receives a 911 call about an active shooter, initially stated to be one suspect in black clothing who was still firing rounds.
Attackers leave
Witnesses report that the attackers leave in a black SUV. Later reports identify the vehicle as a rented black Ford Expedition with Utah plates.
4 minutes after police dispatched
Police arrive
San Bernardino police arrive at the scene and approach the east side of the conference center building. They hear moans and wails and discover bodies inside the conference room and two more outside. Police direct those escaping the building to the San Bernardino Public Golf Course across the street. The golf course goes on lockdown.
Wounded are transported to hospitals
Wounded victims are first taken to a triage center set up on the street. Within 15 minutes of police arrival, the wounded are en route from the scene in ambulances to hospitals throughout the region. Two patients are airlifted to Riverside Community Hospital.
Explosive devices discovered
Police shut off the fire sprinklers and use the intercom to tell anyone still hiding that it’s safe to come out. While clearing the building police discover three pipe bombs, combined into one with a remote-controlled device, inside a bag. Law enforcement is ordered out.
Search for the suspects
At this point, numerous other agencies have teamed with the San Bernardino Police Department, including the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, the California Highway Patrol, probation officers, the Fontana Police Department, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the FBI. Law enforcement searches the area for the suspects and vehicle.
Search teams go door to door looking for suspects in San Bernardino. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Surveillance in Redlands
A person in the building who knew Farook identifies him by name to police and expresses some concern over his behavior prior to the event and the manner in which he left. Officers quickly learn that Farook has rented a vehicle similar to the shooter, and follows up on addresses connected to him. Officers are sent to begin surveillance on a town house on North Center Street in Redlands.
Shortly before 3 p.m.
Pursuit
As officers approach the residence to watch it, a vehicle fitting the same profile of the suspects' SUV leaves, and the officers begin a pursuit. San Bernardino police request help from other police agencies for the pursuit. California Highway Patrol officers position themselves on the 10 Freeway. Officers pursue the vehicle back to San Bernardino. The shooters throw out an object that some fear is a pipe bomb. The device is later determined to be "not an explosive."
Shootout
As the chase reaches San Bernardino Avenue between Mountain View Avenue and Richardson Street, a call goes out of "shots fired." The suspects are believed to have fired first; Malik fires through the SUV’s back window toward police vehicles and Farook, the driver, leaves the car and fires at officers, according to the San Bernardino police chief. The assailants fire about 76 rifle rounds; and about 23 officers fire about 380 rounds. The couple die. San Bernardino police officer Nicholas Koahou sustains a gunshot wound to his left leg; a sheriff’s deputy sustains a cut to his leg that likely came from broken glass or shrapnel. Police find more than 1,400 .223-caliber rounds and more than 200 9-mm rounds of ammunition on the bodies of the attackers and in the vehicle.
Police chase black SUV to 1800 block of East San Bernardino Avenue.
Possible third suspect
A third possible suspect leaving the scene of the shootout is detained by police. Police later determined that the suspect is not connected to the shootings but does have an outstanding misdemeanor warrant and is booked.
Around 8-9 p.m.
Explosives disposed
The bomb squad disposes of the explosives found at the Inland Regional Center conference center building. Officers re-enter the building to process the crime scene.
Shortly after 10 p.m.
Police release identities of attackers
At the final press conference of the day, San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan announces that both suspects are dead, no other shooters are suspected and the door-to-door search has been called off. Law enforcement works through the night identifying and removing bodies from the conference room.
San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan talks to the media on Wednesday afternoon near the site of a mass shooting. (Associated Press)