By Kimberlee Kruesi and Travis Loller -
The Associated Press
Authorities in Nashville (Tennessee) published three calls to the 911 emergency phone this Thursday that capture terror at The Covenant School Christian elementary school during the shooting that killed three children and three adults on Monday, with voice calls for help. go down while sirens, crying and shots are heard.
In one of the calls, a man says he is with a group of people, including several children, who are walking away from the school towards a main street.
Although he remains calm, there is great tension and confusion, with several adults speaking at once and children's voices in the background.
Asked to describe the person carrying out the shooting, the man asks another to come on the line: "All I saw was a man holding an assault rifle and shooting through the door. .
It was…it's in the second grade hallway, upstairs,” he says.
“He is a white man.
With camouflage.
He was wearing a vest and was carrying an assault rifle,” he adds.
When asked how many shots were fired, a woman replies: "I heard about 10 and I left the building."
In another call, which began just before 10:13 a.m., a woman tells a dispatcher she can hear gunshots and is hiding in an art room closet.
“It looks like someone is shooting with [various] weapons,” she recounts.
The dispatcher asks if she was in a safe place: "I think so," the woman replies, while children can be heard in the background.
She then adds, "I hear more shots," and asks, "Please hurry up."
A woman wipes tears as she visits a memorial at the entrance to The Covenant School on Wednesday, March 29, 2023, in Nashville, Tennessee. Wade Payne / AP
Another person calling 911 asking the dispatcher to send help.
“I think we have a shooter,” she says, “I'm on the second floor in a room.
I think it's on the second floor."
Three adults and three 9-year-old children died before police could kill the gunman, identified as 28-year-old Audrey Hale, despite responding in just 14 minutes.
[Fear in the trans community due to the focus of the Nashville shooting on gender identity: “We are terrified”, they lament]
[Hale was identified by police as a transgender person.
Trans men are assigned a female gender at birth and identify as male, while trans women are assigned a male gender at birth and identify as female.
When Nashville Police Chief John Drake was asked Monday if he was a trans man or a trans woman, he said "female," though Hale's LinkedIn account and interviews with those who knew him indicate otherwise. that he was a trans man and used masculine pronouns].
Children protest at the Tennessee Capitol
These recordings are released the same day a protest was held at the Tennessee State Capitol demanding more gun controls from the Republican-led legislature.
Chants of “Save our children!”
echoed loudly in the hallways between the Senate chambers and the state House of Representatives, with protesters setting up tents inside and outside the Capitol.
Some silently filled the gallery of the Senate, including children holding signs that read: "I am 9 years old," a reference to the age of the students who died.
Most of the protesters were withdrawn after some started chanting: “The children are dead!”
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Prior to the protests, a candlelight vigil had been held Wednesday night in Nashville, involving Republican lawmakers along with first lady Jill Biden, Democratic lawmakers and musicians, including Sheryl Crow, who has called for tighter gun controls since the attack.
[Nashville shooter spiraled emotionally after friend's death, according to schoolmates]
The vigil was somber and sometimes tearful, as speaker after speaker read the names of the victims and offered their condolences to their loved ones, but
refrained from any statement that could be seen as political
.
“It was the worst day in our city,” Mayor John Cooper said, “I wish we weren't here, but we need to be here.”
In the midst of the Nashville school massacre, several states are advancing laws for access to weapons
March 30, 202302:39
Police have said Hale drove to the school Monday morning, shot through the glass doors, went inside, and began shooting indiscriminately before being shot dead by police.
The shooting killed three students Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney;
and Katherine Koonce, 60, principal of the school;
teacher Cynthia Peak, 61;
and concierge Mike Hill.
Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Lee was absent from the vigil.
Lee has advocated for less restrictive gun laws along with increased school security and once hinted that prayer could protect Tennessee from school shootings and other things.