VICKI CERVANTES: Some suspects or a suspect has been hit. I believe there is still, possibly, a suspect outstanding. So it's still, again, a very active, fluid situation.
KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:
That is Sergeant Vicki Cervantes with the police department in San Bernardino, Calif. She is giving the latest information about a standoff there between police and suspects - suspects who, earlier today, are believed to have opened fire at a social services center in the city. It's about an hour east of Los Angeles. We have learned that 14 people have been killed and at least 17 wounded. One police officer was later hit, but his injuries do not appear to be life-threatening. Joining us now from San Bernardino is Tim Reid. He is a reporter with the Reuters news service. And thanks for being with us.
TIM REID: Thank you.
MCEVERS: Can you update us with the latest information about this standoff between the police and the suspected shooters?
REID: Well, the police chief of San Bernardino is about to give a media briefing here in 10 minutes. But from aerial footage being shown from local news affiliates, it actually looks - I cannot confirm this - but it looks like two suspects have been killed. There were pictures of one being dragged from the dark SUV that police said was used to get away from the shooting scene. And it looked like there was a second body in a field nearby. So now we are watching heavily-armed police going door to door in the same neighborhood, searching for what appears to be a third suspect who's on the run.
MCEVERS: OK, so we know that police have said that one of these suspects was shot, but we haven't been able to confirm some of these other things that you're talking about. It's stuff you are seeing on the local news there. So you mentioned that one of these suspects might have gotten away. Are officials telling you anything else about that?
REID: No, only that one suspect is outstanding is the word that they have used, although I'm sure we will find out more very shortly when the San Bernardino city police chief addresses the media, which is, again, in about 10 minutes' time.
MCEVERS: Are police giving any advice to people who live in the area? What are they saying?
REID: They're not telling people to stay indoors, they're telling people to remain vigilant. I'm not sure why that advice was given, but they told people to remain vigilant a couple of hours ago when all three suspects were at large. I assume they didn't want to panic the general public. But that's the advice that's been given.
MCEVERS: You have been there, reporting, most of the day. I mean, what have you seen there at the site of where the shooting happened earlier today?
REID: Well, an enormous number of people - I think upwards of several hundred - were at the center at the time of the shooting. About an hour after the shooting took place, dozens and dozens of people were being brought from the center by police and loaded onto orange school buses and driven to a nearby church to be interviewed by law enforcement officials. I suppose interviews are going to be going on until late into the night here. It's probably going to get dark here in about one hour.
MCEVERS: Were you able to speak to any witnesses or family members of people who had people inside the center as this was happening?
REID: I got here after most of them had been evacuated from the center and was unable to speak to them. Although I did hear one father got a text from his daughter who was inside the center while the shooting was going on, texting her father to say that there was a live shooting going on and that she had barricaded herself inside a locker room. She later texted her father to say that she had emerged safely from the shooting, and the father got extremely emotional about these texts.
MCEVERS: That is Tim Reid, a Reuters reporter in San Bernardino, Calif. Thanks so much for being with us today.
REID: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.