It's a heartbreaking minute-by-minute account of a tragedy. Authorities have released written logs of 911 calls made by patrons of the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, as gunman Omar Mateen opened fire on June 12, leaving 49 dead and 53 injured.
The logs, which were released on Tuesday, June 28, are a record of notes police dispatchers made as they spoke to the callers as well as what the officers were saying over their radios. They reveal that the first call of "shots fired" at the gay club came in at 2:02 a.m., according to the Associated Press.
As frightened patrons asked for help, one dispatcher wrote of "hearing gunshots closer, multiple screaming."
After hearing up to 30 gunshots in the background, another dispatcher reported, "My caller is no longer responding, just an open line with moaning."
As clubgoers ran for their lives, calls came in of multiple injuries. "[Caller] is shot in the leg and knee," one dispatcher noted, according to NBC News. "[Caller advises] his friend has been shot in the chest."
It was the worst mass shooting in recent U.S. history and as Mateen, 29, went from room to room in the club, he even called police, pledging his allegiance to ISIS and demanding that the U.S. stop bombing Syria and Iraq, according to the FBI. Those calls have not been released, and a number of news media organizations are requesting they be made public.
The police report reveals that patrons hid throughout the club — in an office upstairs, a closet, behind a stage and in bathroom stalls.
The time-stamped calls reveal some initial misinformation provided by clubgoers. One said that there was a second gunman, another told police that Mateen had several bombs strapped to his chest. Neither claims were true.
At 4:21 a.m., more than two hours after the shooting began, nine people escaped through the window of a dressing room after an air conditioner was removed, while 15 more hostages were freed at 5:07 a.m. after a SWAT team knocked down a bathroom wall, according to the AP.
By 5:17 a.m. Mateen was dead — shot by police — and dispatchers heard the words "Bad guy down."
