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CNN
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“I’m in classroom 112,” the little girl tells the police dispatcher. “Please hurry. There are many dead bodies. ”
The eloquent plea comes in a 12:10 p.m. call from 10-year-old Chloe Torres, who was caught up with the gunman who killed her friends and teacher at Robb Elementary School. Chloe, now 11, survived.
“Please get help. I don’t want to die. My teacher died. Oh, my God.”
A dispatcher sends a message to dozens of people, only to find hundreds of law enforcement officers swarming the school in Uwald, Texas.
More than 30 minutes have passed since the teenager entered the school and opened fire into classrooms 111 and 112.
It takes another 40 minutes for Chloe to give details to authorities until a strike team bursts into the room, challenging the gunman at 12:50 p.m.
CNN covered this 911 call and others by the same girl and her classmates, whispering information and pleading for help. That should have put an end to any doubt or hesitation that the teenage gunman was active, roaming between the two connected classrooms, and that the children were trapped, injured, and needing to be rescued.
The entire law enforcement response has been condemned, almost from start to finish. After the May 24 massacre, the agencies blamed each other for the long wait and for not following up on an initial attempt to get into the classroom when the gunman returned fire, barricading the suspect and deeming him not an active threat. For equipment and specialist personnel.
Nineteen children and two teachers were killed that day, and at least one adult and one child did not die suddenly. Texas’ top cop, Col. Steven McCraw, director of the Department of Public Safety, acknowledged failures last week to the families of the bereaved but insisted his department has not failed the community as a whole.
CNN obtained the calls from a source and is using the quotes with the permission of Khloe’s parents. CNN reported that the story also reaches out to families who lost people in the massacre.
Chloe’s father, Ruben Torres, a former marine, said he knew how difficult it was to provide good information during a fire. “Back then, what she did was absolutely incredible,” he said of his daughter. Of the adults who responded, he said: “None of them had the guts that day.”
“I need help… please. Did you catch the guy?” The fourth grader asks at 12:12, a few minutes later, “Should I open the door now?”
The dispatcher tells Chloe over and over to shut up, to keep her panicked and injured friends quiet, and to wait.
“I tell everyone to shut up, but no one listens to me,” she tells the operator. “I understand what to do in these situations. My father taught me when I was a little boy. Send help.”
She told the 911 operator that her teacher — Eva Mireles — was alive but shot and called for an ambulance at 12:15 p.m.
Outside, a final 376 armed law enforcement officers gather.
At 12:12 pm the radio call goes out: “Uvalde to any units: Advise we have a child on the line … Room 12 [sic]. Is anyone inside the building at this time?”
“Go ahead with that kid’s info,” comes back an answer.
“The boy advises him [sic] A room full of victims is currently full of victims.
“10-4,” comes the confirmation.
The announcement can be clearly heard on audio captured by body cameras worn by officers inside the school.
There was much confusion at the start of the massive response to the school shooting, which came after the gunman shot a grandmother in the head and a truck crashed near the school, both of which prompted emergency calls.
Once at the school, it was not immediately known if the shooter went to an office or classroom, or if he was accompanied by other victims.
But there were clearly some who answered Chloe and her classmates’ calls or made their own efforts to call for help. Also known.
Word spread beyond those who heard the initial broadcast.
“Maybe a kid called out while it was happening. He’s been in that room for an hour now,” an officer tells a newly arrived responder, apparently referring to the shooter.
“We don’t know if there’s anyone in the room with him, do we?” asks an officer in the hallway outside the classrooms. “He does,” comes the reply. “Eight or nine children.”
As some talk about gas masks and shields and the command post, an emergency medic from the Border Patrol arrives. He also knows about children.
“EMT! EMT!” he yells as he asks how to get to the victims in “Room 12.” One officer shrugs. “No, we didn’t hear that,” says another, who has been on the scene more than 20 minutes, apparently referring to the injured children.
The doctor tells them: “They had a child in room 12, multiple victims, room 12.” He goes into the corridor where more officers are gathered. “They said kids, room 12.”
Talking about finding a master key.
Then more gunshots.
Officers with long guns, helmets and body armor move a little closer and stop.
“F**k. We take a lot of time,” says Medic.
Inside the classroom, Chloe begins her third call to 911.
“Can you tell the police to come to my room?” she asks. Again, minutes later, “Can you please send a policeman now?”
She is told to shut up and to keep her classmates – some groaning in pain – to keep quiet and wait.
She told the dispatcher that she heard police noises in the hallway and was again advised to be quiet.
Later, Chloe tells the police how she uses her teacher’s phone and knows how to make an emergency call without unlocking the phone.
She also told how she had time to help her friends when the gunman was in a nearby classroom, killing all the students and injuring the teacher.
“My friend got a big cut so I got up to look for Band-Aids.”
Then she hid under a table again, fearing the shooter would return to her room.
The girl is on the phone when the officers finally force her way into the next room. Loud, lingering gunshots can be heard as the dispatcher tells her: “Stand down. Don’t get up. Stay down. Don’t, don’t move.”
The girl survives. A school bus takes her to the hospital along with other injured classmates, where she is able to speak face-to-face with one of the responders who says she is on the phone.
“I was trying not to cry,” she said.
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