“I’m in class 112,” the little girl tells the police dispatcher. “Please hurry. There are many corpses.”
The clarion call comes in a call at 12:10 p.m. by Khloie Torres, then 10 years old and trapped in Robb Elementary School with a gunman who has slaughtered her friends and a teacher. Khloie, now 11, survived.
“Please get help. I don’t want to die. My teacher is dead. Oh my God.”
The dispatcher sends the message to dozens, soon to be hundreds of law enforcement officers who flock to the school in Uvalde, Texas.
More than 30 minutes have passed since the teenager entered the school and shot into classrooms 111 and 112.
And it takes another 40 minutes for Khloie to give details to authorities before a task force bursts into the room, challenging the gunman at 12:50 p.m.
CNN heard that 911 call, and others made by the same girl and classmates, whispering information and pleading for help. It’s the call that should have ended any doubt or hesitation that the teenage gunman was active, roaming between the two connected classrooms, that children were trapped, injured and needed to be rescued.
The entire law enforcement response has been condemned, almost from start to finish. And the agencies accuse each other of changing narratives after the May 24 massacre, of not following through on the initial attempt to enter the classroom when the gunman opened fire, of treating the suspect as a barrier but not an active threat, and of long waits for equipment and specialized personnel .
Nineteen children and two teachers were killed that day, although at least one adult and one child did not die immediately. Texas’ top cop, Department of Public Safety director Col. Steven McCraw, has acknowledged failures, most recently to grieving families last week, but insisted his department as a whole has not failed the community.
CNN obtained the calls from a source and is using quotes with the permission of Khloie’s parents. CNN also notified the families who lost people in the massacre that this story was coming.
Khloie’s father, Ruben Torres, a former Marine, said he knew how hard it was to give good information when under fire. “That day, the things she did were absolutely incredible,” he said of his daughter. Of the adults who responded, he said, “None of them had courage that day.”
“I need help… please. Have you all arrested the person?’ the fourth grader asks at 12:12 p.m. And a few minutes later, “Do you want me to open the door now?”
Over and over again Khloie is told by the dispatcher to be quiet, to keep her scared and traumatized friends quiet, and to wait.
“I tell everyone to be quiet, but no one listens,” he tells the operator. “I understand what to do in these situations. My dad taught me when I was a little girl. Send help.”
She tells the 911 operator that her teacher – Eva Mireles – is alive but has been shot and calls for an ambulance at 12:15 p.m.
A final total of 376 armed law enforcement officers are assembled outside.
At 12:12 p.m. comes the radio call: “Uvalde to any units: Please note we have a child on the line… room 12 [sic]. Is anyone in the building right now?’
“Proceed with this child’s information,” comes a reply.
“The child advises him [sic] he’s in the room full of victims, full of victims right now.”
“10-4,” comes the confirmation.
The announcement can be clearly heard on audio recorded by body cameras worn by police officers inside the school.
There was plenty of confusion at the start of the massive response to the school shooting, which came after the gunman shot his grandmother in the head and crashed a truck near the school, both of which prompted emergency calls.
Once inside the school, it was not immediately known if the shooter went into an office or classroom, or if he had any victims with him.
But the call from Khloie and some of her classmates who came to the line or made their own efforts to call for help was clear. And known.
Word spreads beyond those who heard the original broadcast.
“Supposedly a kid called as it was going on. He’s been in this room for an hour,” an officer tells a newly arrived reporter, apparently referring to the shooter.
“We don’t know if he has anyone in the room with him, do we?” an officer asks in the hallway outside the classrooms. “He does,” comes the reply. “Eight or nine children.”
While some are talking about gas masks and shields and a command post, an emergency medic from the Border Patrol arrives. He also knows about children.
“EMT! EMT!” he shouts as he asks how to get to the victims in “Room 12”. An officer shrugs. Another who has been on the scene for more than 20 minutes says, “No, we hadn’t heard that,” apparently referring to injured children.
The doctor tells them, “They just had a kid in room 12, multiple victims, in room 12.” He goes down the hall to where more officers are gathering. “They said guys, room 12.”
There is discussion about finding a master key.
Then more shots.
Officers with long guns, helmets and body armor move a little closer and stop.
“F**k We are too late,” says the doctor.
Inside the classroom, Khloie initiates her third 911 call.
“Can you tell the police to come to my room?” she asks. Again, a few minutes later, “Can you send a policeman now, please?”
She is told to keep quiet, keep her classmates – some of whom were apparently moaning in pain – quiet and wait.
She told the dispatcher she thought she heard police in the hallway and was again advised to stay quiet.
Khloie later tells the police how she used her teacher’s phone, how she knew how to make the emergency call without having to unlock the phone as it was like her dad’s.
She also spoke about how she had time to try to help her friends while the gunman was in the next classroom, killing all the students and wounding the teacher.
“I stood up to look for Band-Aids because my friend had a big cut.”
Then, fearing that the assailant might return to her room, she hid again under a table.
The girl is on call as the cops finally enter the next room. Loud, sustained bursts of gunfire are heard as the dispatcher tells her, “Stay down. Don’t get up. Stay down. Don’t, don’t move.’
The girl survives. She is taken to the hospital by school bus with other injured classmates, where she is able to speak face-to-face with one of the participants, saying she was on the phone.
“I was trying not to cry,” she said.
