When Ryan Starling and the rest of the members of the San Bernardino Police SWAT team heard the crackling chatter of shots fired over the police scanner on the morning of Dec. 2, many thought it was part of a training exercise.
That day, Starling and the team were taking part in an active-shooter training at the Arrowhead Springs Hotel, less than 10 miles from the Inland Regional Center. Just before 11:30 a.m. they heard the call over the scanner.
“We were missing about six guys from the team and thought maybe they’re setting up another scenario,” he said. “When we heard multiple people down, that’s when we knew it was real.”
The SWAT team members were among the first officers on scene that day and Starling was the first medic to assess the wounded and the dead.
With the help of other medics who arrived a short time later, Starling was able to successfully triage 17 seriously wounded people — some struck several times by the rapid fire of Syed Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik’s assault rifles. All 17 survived.
“They did a great job,” said Dr. Michael Neeki, a tactical surgeon with the Inland Regional SWAT team and emergency room physician for Arrowhead Regional Medical Center.
The embedding of tactical medics and physicians into SWAT teams over the past few years has proved to be an invaluable change to the emergency personnel response and the ability to treat mass casualty situations.