San Bernardino police said another 17 were injured in the attack in the city, about 60 miles (96km) east of Los Angeles.
He said the suspects were armed with "long guns" in the assault, which lasted for "several minutes" at the Inland Regional Center, a facility for people with disabilities.
Shots were reportedly fired from the vehicle during a chase and armoured BearCat vehicles surrounded it, with officers believing there was at least one wounded suspect in the back.
Police confirmed one suspect was "down" while pictures appeared to show another suspect being taken into custody and another was said to be possibly at large. Authorities could not immediately confirm if the operation was linked to the earlier shooting.
One police officer was hurt during the gun battle with the suspects and was taken to hospital with injuries that were "not life-threatening".
The attack - on an auditorium packed with around 100 people - is the deadliest shooting in the US since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Connecticut, in December 2012, when 27 people including the gunman were killed.
"They came prepared to do what they did as if they were on a mission," San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan told reporters.
Brandon Hunt, who works at the centre, said a banquet for health department workers was being held inside at the time.
Up to three men in military gear carried out the attack, San Bernardino Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Teri Adams told Sky News.
The suspects are believed to have fled in a black SUV.
A bomb squad was sent to look into a number of suspicious items left in the building.
The motive for the attack is unknown and an FBI spokesman told a news conference: "We do not know if this is a terrorist incident."
Police are interviewing witnesses who reportedly saw men changing clothes near the scene of the shooting, which is along a main road and next to a golf course and recreation centre.
Terry Petit fought back tears as he said he had received texts from his daughter saying she was hiding from gunfire at the facility.
Mr Petit read a message to reporters outside the Inland Regional Center that said: "People shot.
"In the office waiting for cops. Pray for us. I am locked in an office."
Triage units have been set up near the scene, with some people seen being wheeled away on gurneys.
Television images showed people being evacuated with their arms raised from the building, where hundreds of people work.
Roads were blocked off and stores, office buildings and at least one school were placed on lockdown in the city of 214,000 people.
US President Barack Obama and California Governor Jerry Brown were briefed on the incident.
"We have a pattern now of mass shootings that has no parallel anywhere else in the world," Mr Obama told CBS News.
"There are some steps we could take, not to eliminate every one of these mass shootings, but to improve the odds that they don't happen as frequently."
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