The City of Orlando made police logs from the night of the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub – including transcripts from hundreds of calls to 911 – available to the public on Tuesday, according to The New York Times.
The documents show that a 911 caller first reported the shooting around 2:03am. Then the lines started to flood with a series of calls that hint at the extent of the carnage: “Someone is screaming ‘I’m shot,’” one phone operator noted. Another wrote, “My caller is no longer responding, just an open line with moaning.” Dispatchers could hear gunfire over the phone, and reports from those at the club became increasingly serious: “Cadv [caller advises] vic[tim] is losing a lot of blood;” “Cadv vic is no longer responding to him.”
Around 2:19, the initial burst of shooting stopped, and the hostage siege began. Calls came in from club goers in hiding – one dispatcher noted, “subj in restroom whispering please help.” The shooter, Omar Mateen, called 911 at 2:35 to claim responsibility for the massacre and announce his connection with the Islamic State.
Some victims told 911 that Mateen was in possession of a bomb, though that turned out false. Police helped some of those trapped inside the club around 4:21 by removing an air-conditioner from a wall. The escapees suggested that the gunman intended to attach explosives to hostages, which precipitated the SWAT team’s assault on the club. According to the logs, the team made its move at 5:02, and Mateen was confirmed dead around 5:18.
The logs also revealed a debate about whether or not one of the six exits at Pulse was blocked on the night of the shooting. Orlando’s fire marshal, Tammy Hughes, exchanged a text and emails with the fire chief, Roderick Williams, about a coke machine being placed in front an exit. On Tuesday, city officials said these reports were incorrect, and all exits were clear the night of Mateen’s attack.
– Rolling Stone
