NEW YORK: US authorities yesterday released audio recordings of emergency calls made to police from the elementary school in Newtown where a lone gunman shot dead 20 children and six adults last year.
Recordings of a series of 911 calls made from within and nearby the school were released nearly a year after the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012.
Adam Lanza, 20, murdered 20 children and six adults in less than 11 minutes in one of the deadliest US school shootings.
The recordings detail a calm response from emergency service personnel as gunshots ring out in the background at the school in the state of Connecticut. “Sandy Hook school, I think there’s somebody shooting in here, Sandy Hook school,” said one audibly upset woman. “There’s still shooting. Sandy Hook school please.”
A call from a man “down the corridor” said that the front glass had been “all shot out.” Over bursts of gunfire he said: “It’s still happening.”
Emergency personnel are also heard telling a third woman to keep everyone down, away from the windows.
The Associated Press news agency took legal action to get the calls released after officials initially argued they should be withheld on the grounds that they relate to child abuse. AFP
