5 years after San Bernardino terrorist attack, photos tell the story

After 11 a.m. Dec. 2, 2015, newsroom police scanners crackled out a call for an active shooter at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino.

Editors listened, waiting to hear if it was a drill. It wasn’t.

Over the next few chaotic hours, photographers documented the scene as emergency workers whisked people to safety, victims consoled one another and law officers searched for the assailants. Later, two terrorists were killed in a dramatic shootout with authorities. In the following days, photojournalists chronicled memorials, the mourning of victims and law-enforcement news conferences.

Five years later, our photographers’ images of one of the Inland Empire’s worst tragedies endure.

Here is a sampling of their work.

Two people who were inside the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino comfort each other after being evacuated to the San Bernardino Golf Club, across the street from the site of the Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015, shooting. — David Bauman

A victim is wheeled away from the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino after the Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015, terrorist attack. — David Bauman

A victim of the Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015, San Bernardino shooting is taken to an ambulance outside the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino. — David Bauman

People are escorted to the San Bernardino Golf Course after being evacuated from Inland Regional Center, where a mass shooting occurred Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015. — Micah Escamilla

A law officer checks a vehicle arriving at the emergency entrance of Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton after the Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015, mass shooting in San Bernardino. — Kurt Miller

A SWAT vehicle carries officers north on Waterman Avenue after a terrorist attack at the Inland Regional Center on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015, in San Bernardino. — Micah Escamilla

Law officers search for suspects after 14 people were killed and many others injured in a mass shooting at the Inland Regional Center on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015, in San Bernardino. — Keith Durflinger

San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department SWAT officers stage in the 1500 block of South Richardson Street in San Bernardino on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015, as they respond to a report that a shooting suspect may be in the area. — David Bauman

SWAT officers monitor a road on the north side of Victoria Elementary School in the 1500 block of South Richardson Street in San Bernardino after a report that a shooting suspect could be in the area Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015. — David Bauman

An officer arrives at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015, after the mass shooting. — Rachel Luna

SWAT officers run Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015, to the north side of Victoria Elementary School in the 1500 block of South Richardson Street in San Bernardino after hearing reports that a shooting suspect might be nearby. — David Bauman

A Redlands Police officer moves into position as authorities search for assailants at Richardson Street and San Bernardino Avenue after a mass shooting that killed 14 people in San Bernardino on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015. — David Bauman

Law officers race toward a shootout between authorities and two terrorists in San Bernardino after a mass shooting earlier that day at the Inland Regional Center on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015. — David Danelski

Authorities run to the site of a shootout in San Bernardino between police and two terrorists after a mass shooting earlier in the day at the Inland Regional Center on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015. — David Danelski

Employees are reunited on Waterman Avenue, south of Orange Show Road, after assailants killed 14 people and injured others during a mass shooting in San Bernardino on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015. — Terry Pierson

Officers search San Bernardino Avenue for evidence Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015, near the SUV driven by two terrorists killed in a shootout with authorities the day before. — Kurt Miller

Police investigate the site of a shootout along East San Bernardino Avenue on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015, the day after two attackers opened fire on a holiday gathering at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino. — Ed Crisostomo

Temecula residents Gordon and Denise Baciorek support victims of a mass shooting during a candlelight vigil at San Manuel Stadium in San Bernardino on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015. — Terry Pierson

Melissa Smith prays at a makeshift memorial for the San Bernardino shooting victims at the corner of Waterman Avenue and Orange Show Road on Friday, Dec. 4, 2015. — Kurt Miller

 

Summer Adams, the widow of victim Robert Adams, left, hugs mother-in-law Carole Adams after Carole Adams spoke at a candlelight vigil in Yucaipa Community Park on Sunday, Dec. 6, 2015. Robert Adams, who lived in the city, was among the 14 killed in the San Bernardino terrorist attack. — Terry Pierson

 

President Barack Obama assists first lady Michelle Obama on Friday, Dec. 18, 2015, as they exit Air Force One at San Bernardino International Airport on the way to a meeting with families of victims of the San Bernardino terrorist attacks. — Terry Pierson

 

President Barack Obama speaks in a classroom at Indian Springs High School in San Bernardino on Friday, Dec. 18, 2015. The president and his wife met with family members of those killed during the mass shooting at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino on Dec. 2, 2015. — Will Lester

 

Van Thanh Nguyen, mother of Tin Nguyen gently touches her daughter’s coffin at a funeral service at St. Barbara’s Catholic Church in Santa Ana on Saturday, Dec. 12, 2015. Tin Nguyen was one of the 14 people killed in a terrorist attack in San Bernardino. — Ed Crisostomo

 

Yvette Velasco’s parents release a dove at their daughter’s Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015, funeral at Forest Lawn in Covina. It was the first funeral for a victim of the San Bernardino terrorist attack. — Kurt Miller

 

Diocese of San Bernardino Bishop Gerald R. Barnes says the funeral Mass for Damian Meins at St. Catherine of Alexandria Catholic Church in Riverside on Friday, Dec. 11, 2015. — Terry Pierson

Source: Orange County Register