With gunshots echoing in the distance, acting head custodian Rick Thorne put thoughts of his own life aside as helped instruct the police response to the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School nearly a year ago this month.
Thorne, one of the first calls received by the Newtown dispatch center on Dec. 14, tell police there is a shooting at the front of the building, according to recordings of the 911 tapes from that day released Wednesday.
“The front glass is all shot out,” an anxious but held together Thorne tells dispatchers as he stands in the middle of a nearby corridor in the school.
“ I am not in the front.,” he said about a minute into the phone call. “Actually I am down the other part but I am close.”
Okay, do you see anything or hear anything more,” the dispatcher asked.
“I keep hearing shooting,” Thorne replied. “I keep hearing popping.”
At about two minutes and 45 seconds into the recording, Thorne informs police about a possible suspect outside the school.
“The gym teacher told me they saw somebody going past the gym,” he said.
“Just now?” the dispatcher asks.
“Yes,” Thorne replied as shoots continued to ring out in the distance.
More than three minutes into the call to dispatchers, Thorne reports to police that he continues to hear shooting in the school.
In the background, multiple gunshots can be heard at the time.
“There is still shooting going on,” a desperate Thorne pleaded on the phone. “Please…”
About 30 second later, at least one more shot is heard in the distance.
“It’s still, still going on,” Thorne said before the line was disconnected.
Several minutes later Thorne was again on the phone wiht dispacthers as police began to enter the building.
“Who are you?” yelled a responding officer, according to the recordings.
“Custodian,” Thorne yelled with fear in his voice. “I’m on the phone with dispatch.”
“There are victims in the building,” officers told Thorne, who relayed the information to dispatch.
“How many,” Thorne was told to ask by dispatchers.
“Two down,” the officer responded.
“It’s in the front of the school,” the officer can be heard saying in the distance in a voice that became increasingly shaky. “We have five here.”
The dispatcher then put Thorne on hold to answer several other phone calls that were flooding police headquarters.
“Newtown 911, what’s the location of your emergency,” the dispatcher asked the new caller.
“Sandy Hook School,” the caller said. “My wife just texted me and said there are shooters in the school.”
“We have officers on scene at this time, they are clearing the school at this time,” the dispatcher said before the recording ends.
LISTEN TO THE CALL HERE (WARNING THIS MAY BE DISTURBING TO SOME READERS)