First responders were met with “unspeakable” carnage at the scene of the mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, with the dead and wounded strewn around a space still decorated for an employee holiday party, police said Thursday night.
Between 75 and 80 people were assembled when two gunmen opened fire on a holiday party for county employees on Wednesday, which 91 people had been invited to attend.
A first responder called the chaotic scene “surreal,” with police forced to move past “obviously deceased” people while pursuing the gunmen, who they believed were still actively shooting.
Police Lt. Mike Madden, one of the very first responders at the Inland Regional Center, said the carnage was “unspeakable,” and officers arriving found all the reports they’d received “immediately accurate.” The dead and wounded were scattered around a conference room space he said was decorated with Christmas trees.
“It was unspeakable, the carnage we were seeing, and the fear and panic on people’s faces,” Madden said in a press conference.
San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said 18 of the 21 people wounded and 12 of the 14 people killed in the massacre have been identified as county employees. The Department of Public Health event on Wednesday was planned as a training session in the morning and a holiday luncheon in the afternoon.
The shooting broke out around the time of the transition between the events, police said.
Police also released photos of the weapons and ammunition recovered at the scene of a shootout with law enforcement:
Photos from the scene of the officer involved shooting. Weapons & ammunition carried by the suspects. #SanBernardino pic.twitter.com/6s2HpyEgqP
— SB County Sheriff (@sbcountysheriff) December 4, 2015
