"Blood Is Everywhere": The Harrowing Marysville Shooting 911 Calls
Yesterday afternoon, Snohomish County law enforcement officials released haunting recordings of the 911 calls from last month's shooting at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, which left five students, including the gunman, dead. "I have the shooter," a panicked teacher says in one call. "Blood is everywhere. I do not see the gun."
"I tried to stop him before he shot himself," the teacher, Megan Silberberger, said later. "I do not know how many are down. I tried to stop him… I am looking at him…I need help. I need help now. Shooter, right here. He's wearing all black. I'm staring at him right now, sitting next to him. I need staff now. Shooter right here."
On October 24, the shooter, 15-year-old Jaylen Fryberg, invited five friends to the school's cafeteria via text message before opening fire with a .40 caliber handgun. Zoe Galasso, 14, died at the scene. Gia Soriano, Shaylee Chuckulnaskit, both 14, and Andrew Fryberg, 15, died later at a hospital. The fifth friend, 14-year-old Nate Hatch, was wounded and released last week.
Before passing the phone to Silberberger, an obviously distraught student described the scene to the 911 dispatcher. "There's just been a shooting. Three kids have been shoot... in the cafeteria"
Recordings of calls from concerned parents and neighbors were also released. From the Seattle Times:
"My daughter just texted me that there are shots fired at her high school," one crying mother tells a dispatcher. The mother noted her daughter and several other students weren't following lock-down instructions and had fled from their classroom.
"What advice can I give to her?" the mother asks.
During another recording, a neighbor who lives just west of the school reported that she had several students in her home after they fled the school and climbed the fence to her yard. The woman relayed that the students knew the shooter's identity.
"First name is Jaylen," she said.
"What's his last name?" the dispatcher asked.
"Fryberg, with an 'F,' and he's a freshman," she said.
[Image via AP]