Transcript: Columbine 911 Tapes

— -- July 6 — The following excerpts from the Columbine shooting 911 tapes, just released, show the confusion, anguish and attempts by law enforcement to deal with the unfolding situation:

Call from teacher Patti Nielson hiding in library with children.

Nielson: The school is in a panic. And I’m in the library. I’ve got students, under the table. Kids! Kids under the table! Kids are screaming …. We need police here. …

Nielson: He turned the gun straight at us and shot and my God, the window went out. And the kid standing there with us, I think, I, he got hit. (Sound of gunshots.) Oh God! Oh God! …

Nielson: He’s outside of this hall … He’s in the hall … There are alarms and things going off, there’s smoke, my God, smoke is like coming … I’ve got the kids under the tables here, I don’t know what is happening in the rest of the building.

‘Stay on the Line’Dispatcher: I just want you to stay on the line with me, we need to know what’s going on. O.K.?

Nielson: O.K … (shouting) I want every student in this library on the floor and you better stay on the floor!

Dispatcher: Is there any way you can lock the doors?

Nielson: Smoke is coming in from out there and I’m a little afraid. (Sound of gunshots.) The gun is right outside the library door. O.K.? I don’t think I’m going out there.”

Dispatcher: We have paramedics, we have fire and we have police en route.

Nielson: I can’t believe he’s not out of bullets. He just keeps shooting and shooting and shooting.

Dispatcher: We’ve got a police officer on scene. Just try and keep the kids in the library calm. Is there anyway you can block the door so no one can get in?

Nielson: I do not …. Yeah, I guess I can try to go, but he’s right outside that door. I’m afraid to go.…

‘I Can Hear Them Screaming’ Some time later, police officers talking to each other by phone, a mix of voices.