San Bernardino Shooting: 'Remarkable' How Many People Escaped, Police Chief Says

The shooters "really had people pinned in," San Bernardino police chief said.

ByABC News
December 5, 2015, 11:39 AM

— -- The San Bernardino shooters trapped their victims inside the building so well that it's "remarkable" how many escaped alive, the San Bernardino police chief said today.

When suspected shooters Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik entered the room at the Inland Regional Center and started firing, "they came through the two doors that kind of flanked both sides of the room," San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan told ABC News.

"The only path of escape, really, for the folks in the room, was into a hallway on the other side. So they really had people pinned in," Burguan said.

"It's remarkable to think there were upwards of 70-plus people in that room when this happened," Burguan said. "The casualties are a tragedy. Our hearts go out to them. But the fact that so many people did escape is remarkable."

PHOTO: FBI, San Bernardino City and San Bernardino County Sheriff's officials continue documenting and investigating on Dec. 3, 2015, the scene of the shootout between law enforcement officials and the mass shooting suspects which occurred on Wednesday.
FBI, San Bernardino City and San Bernardino County Sheriff's officials continue documenting and investigating on Dec. 3, 2015, the scene of the shootout between law enforcement officials and the mass shooting suspects which occurred on Wednesday.

Fourteen people were killed during the massacre, which is now being investigated as an act of terrorism.

Some 21 people were also injured in the married couple's attack, authorities said, which took place during a holiday party and training event for the San Bernardino County Health Department.

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