‘There’s somebody shooting in here!’
The tragic Newtown shooting, one of the deadliest shootings in the history of the United States of America, occurred nearly a year ago. On that tragic day many young, innocent lives were taken way too soon. The killer, Adam Lanza, brought several guns to the school with the intent of killing. He entered into the school and first killed the principal and psychologist and then he went around to many of the classrooms and began shooting the teachers and young children and after it was all done, took his own life by holding a gun to his head and pulling the trigger. The 911 calls from that tragic day have just recently been released, revealing some new information about what happened that day. These records are just a reminder to us of how tragic that day truly was.
The first call was received from a woman who was very anxious and frantic. She let the dispatcher know that she had a feeling someone was in the school shooting because she saw someone running down the hallway and was suspicious that they had a gun.
The second caller was from the school janitor. He let the dispatcher know that someone was in the school shooting. He said that he could hear someone shooting at the glass and that when he looked at the glass, he could see that it has been shot out.
Another call received was from a teacher who said she could hear shooting outside of her classroom and from a man inside the school. The dispatcher told her to stay inside of her classroom, keep all of her students there, and to lock her classroom door.
During each of these calls, the dispatchers stayed calm and kept questioning the caller about how the children were and wanted to make sure that they were safe.
Here is a sample of one of the calls:
“They’re still running, they’re still shooting,” she said, a volley of several gunshots audible in the background. “Sandy Hook school, please!”
On another call, a woman who described herself as a teacher said she was shot in the foot. The 911 operator instructed her to apply pressure on the wound.
“There’s children in this room,” the teacher said, sighing heavily.
“Are you OK right now?” the 911 operator asks?
“For now, hopefully,” the teacher said, sounding worried.