OBAMA: 'It is possible that this was terrorist-related'
AP
In a statement from the Oval Office, Obama did not rule out the possibility that the shooting was "terrorist-related." He said it could also have been workplace-related.
"At this stage, we do not yet know why this terrible event occurred," Obama said, saying he had been further briefed on the shooting by FBI Director James Comey and Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
"It is possible that this was terrorist-related, but we don't know. It is also possible that this was workplace-related," he said.
He later added: "We don't know why they did it."
Obama then repeated a call from Wednesday, urging legislators to enact stricter controls on guns to curb the increasing frequency of mass shootings.
"We see the prevalence of these kinds and mass shootings in this country. I think so many Americans sometimes feel that there is nothing we can do about it," Obama said.
"And we're going to have to search ourselves as a society to see if we can take basic steps that would make it harder - not impossible, but harder - for individuals to get access to weapons."
Police have identified two suspects in the shooting - Syed Rizwan Farook, a 28-year-old US citizen, and Tashfeen Malik, 27, a couple with a 6-month-old daughter. But so far, they have yet to uncover a motive. Both suspects were killed after a car chase Wednesday evening.
Farook and Malik were reportedly armed with four guns: two semiautomatic handguns purchased legally, and two .223-caliber assault rifles, according to reports.
On Wednesday, Obama first responded to the shooting in an interview with CBS, calling for legislative measures aimed at curbing gun violence.
"The one thing we do know is that we have a pattern now of mass shootings in this country that has no parallel anywhere else in the world," Obama said in the interview.
"We should come together on a bipartisan basis at every level to make these rare as opposed to normal," he added. "We should never think that this is something that just happen in the ordinary course of events because this doesn't happen with the same frequency in other countries."
An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that the shooting took place in Santa Barbara, California.
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