Facing The Challenge Of Reporting And Keeping At-Risk Sources Safe

Shortly after NPR's team of journalists — Kelly McEvers, Encarni Pindado and I — arrived in El Salvador to report on how young women are being affected by gang violence, we received a grim phone call from a local colleague who knew about our assignment.

He told us a 15-year-old girl had been shot dead in broad daylight on a main avenue.

Her name was Marcela. When we arrived, her body was lying by a busy avenue clogged up by slow morning traffic. She looked almost peaceful, like she was resting, her legs on the avenue, her head on the curb.