Gunshots, screams and moans: Orlando 911 calls tell tale of terror at Pulse nightclub
Reporting from Orlando, Fla. — In 911 calls the night of the Pulse shooting, some of the patrons trapped inside the Orlando, Fla., nightclub described seeing the shooter. Others said they could only hear him getting closer.
One whispered: “Please help.”
Another spoke with a dispatcher only briefly.
“My caller is no longer responding,” a dispatcher said at 2:09 a.m. “Just an open line with moaning.”
In one of the most descriptive official reports released in the June 12 nightclub shooting, made public by the city on Tuesday, 911 callers described their own wounds and the injuries of those around them: Gunshot to the stomach. Gunshot to the chest. Shots to the leg and knee. Shots to the arm.
The city did not release audio recordings or full transcripts of the 911 calls or of shooter Omar Mateen’s communications with a police negotiator, only the computer-assisted dispatch logs that laid out radio communication among first responders. Callers are not named in the logs.
By the time police broke through a club wall just after 5 a.m. and killed Mateen, 49 people were dead and more than 50 others injured.
In the call logs, dispatchers reported the accounts of a mother who said her son was on the floor of the VIP lounge and of an injured man who said he was in the bathroom with about 15 others — two of whom were dead.
My caller is no longer responding. Just an open line with moaning.”
— 911 dispatcher
At 2:06 a.m., a caller said she thought the shooter was out of bullets. But a minute and a half later, those inside heard shots starting up again and people screaming for help.
Fire crews brought the first victim to a nearby hospital at 2:13 a.m. as Orlando police officers started transporting victims to Orlando Regional Medical Center.
The police SWAT team was paged at 2:18 a.m.
The incident narratives from the police and fire departments show that no callers reported gun shots from inside the club after 2:18, which matches statements made by Orlando Police Chief John Mina. Other witnesses who were inside the club have disputed those statements.
At 2:20 a.m., a caller said the shooter was “loading up.” The caller was in a bathroom; so was the shooter.
Mateen talked with a dispatcher at 2:40 a.m. and pledged allegiance to the terrorist group Islamic State. A caller said Mateen was in the women’s restroom at the time.
At 2:51 a.m., Mateen told a dispatcher he was a terrorist and there were possible explosives in the parking lot. Another caller said Mateen was still in the women’s bathroom and had bombs strapped to his body.
Police officials requested a bomb truck two minutes before 3 a.m., about the same time the city’s emergency manager was contacted and updated on the situation.
Fire records show the bomb truck and crew arrived at 4:08 a.m.
But bomb-sniffing dogs from Seminole County and the University of Central Florida’s law enforcement departments arrived earlier and started searching the area outside the club.
An Orlando police chaplain, part of a group of volunteer clerics who work with the department, called the dispatch center at 3:16 a.m. He was sent to Orlando Regional Medical Center to offer support there.
At 4:09 a.m., Mateen was in a men’s restroom, reloading his guns, said a caller whose sister was sending text messages from the club.
Others said that people in the bathrooms were bleeding and that Mateen looked like he was about to start shooting again.
Twenty minutes later, word spread to police officers that Mateen was saying he would attach explosive vests to four people in the club in 15 minutes, records show. That, Mina has said, is what prompted officers to move in.
Dispatchers could hear explosions near a 911 caller on the line at 5:07 a.m. Police later said these were controlled explosions by officers. They did not find any bombs in the club.
At 5:14 a.m., dispatchers reported shots fired in a bathroom.
The official call came at 5:17 a.m.: “Bad guy down strapped.”
When morning came, police dogs swept other gay clubs in Orlando to check for explosives. No hazards were found.
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Tziperman Lotan and Allen write for the Orlando Sentinel.
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