Emotional dad: Daughter 'hiding' from shooter
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — Though law enforcement responded fairly quickly Wednesday as the largest mass shooting since Sandy Hook Elementary unfolded, relatives waited hours for their loved ones to be found.
Terry Pettit said he received a text from his daughter saying she was hiding after gunfire erupted at the social services facility in Southern California where she works.
Pettit choked back tears as he read the texts for reporters outside Inland Regional Center here.
“People shot. In the office waiting for cops. Pray for us. I am locked in an office,” he said she wrote.
Police searched people filing out of a building with their hands up before they reunited with loved ones. Ambulances and law enforcement vehicles raced through the area with sirens blaring.
Marcos Aguilera said his wife was inside Inland Regional Center when gunfire erupted, but she got out of the building unharmed.
He told KABC-TV, Los Angeles, that a shooter entered the building next to his wife’s office and opened fire.
Aguilera's wife and co-workers locked themselves in her office and saw bodies on the floor, he said. His wife also saw ambulances taking people out of the building on stretchers.
Related: