Several 911 calls released Friday afternoon, revealed a chaotic Apalachee High School scene as parents, friends and partners called dispatchers for help in the early moments of a deadly shooting on the campus.
One man called 911 after receiving text messages from a girlfriend. He was put on hold for just over 10 minutes due to an influx of calls at the time of the shooting on Sept. 4.
“She hears people yelling outside, so I don’t know if that’s officers in the building or that’s — I don’t know,” he said, adding that she was eventually evacuated out of the school.
Around the same time, a parent called 911 hoping to get information on the situation, but dispatchers were unable to answer questions as officers flooded Apalachee High and surrounding schools were also placed under lockdown.
“My daughter goes to this school next door to Apalachee. Is there a school shooter?” the parent asked a dispatcher.
The shooting at the Winder school was the deadliest school shooting in the state’s history.
Four people were killed at the high school: Christian Angulo and Mason Schermerhorn, both 14-year-old students, and Cristina Irimie and Ricky Aspinwall, both math teachers. Nine other people were injured, including another teacher and a 15-year-old student who spent multiple days in the hospital.
A 14-year-old Apalachee High student has been charged with four counts of felony murder and is expected to face more charges. The student’s father, Colin Gray, 54, has been charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children.
More than 500 radio interchanges between first responders were also released Friday afternoon. In one of the first radio calls, an official said, “We have an active shooter in Apalachee High School.”
At 10:58 a.m., roughly a half-hour after the shooting, a parent called and expressed her worry in heavily accented English.
“Police, police. The Apalachee High School. My daughter calling me crying. Somebody, everybody, boom, boom, boom, boom.”
The Barrow County dispatcher tried to reassure her they were doing what they could.
“Ma’am, we have officers out there, OK?”
The mother’s frightened voice trailed off.
“We got people there, OK?” the dispatcher said before telling her bye.
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