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Quote:SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. -- A man and woman dressed in tactical gear and carrying assault-style weapons shot and killed 14 people and injured 17 at a holiday party at a social services center on Wednesday before being fatally shot by police hours later while on the run.

It was the deadliest shooting in the U.S. since the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, which left 28 dead. 

Police identified the killers as Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, a county health department employee whose coworkers were among those slain, and Tashfeen Malik, 27, who authorities said was either his wife or girlfriend.

Farook, who was born in the U.S. and had worked for the health department for about five years, left the party "angry," according to San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan.

Farook and Malik had a six-month-old daughter, who they left with Farook's mother the morning of the attack, Reuters reports. According to Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Los Angeles chapter, the couple told her that they were going to the doctor. Instead, they returned to the party, with weapons.

A tip following the mass shooting led police to a home in the nearby city of Redlands, where officers saw the suspects leave in a dark SUV, police said. Officers pursued the vehicle and opened fire, killing Farook and Malik. 

In describing the final encounter with the armed suspects, the police chief said the officers involved responded with great courage.

"That was flat-out heroic, what they did," Burguan said.

One officer sustained non-life threatening injuries in the confrontation, and is recuperating at an area hospital. 

Although earlier reports from police indicated that a third person may have been involved in the shooting, Burguan announced at a news conference late Wednesday that Farook and Malik were the only shooters. A third person was taken into custody, but it isn't yet clear whether that person was involved in the plot.