Sunday, December 29, 2013

Police officer to paramedic minutes before entering the Sandy Hook school after the massacre, "This will be the worst day of your life."

Courtesy of The Guardian:

Police released thousands of pages Friday from their investigation into the Newtown massacre, providing the most detailed and disturbing picture yet of the rampage and Adam Lanza's fascination with murder, while also depicting school employees' brave and clearheaded attempts to protect the children. 

Among the details: more than a dozen bodies, mostly children, were discovered packed "like sardines" in a bathroom where they had hidden. And the horrors encountered inside the school were so great that when police sent in paramedics, they tried to select ones capable of handling what they were about to witness. 

"This will be the worst day of your life," police Sgt William Cario warned one. 

The documents' release marks the end of the investigation into the December 14, 2012, shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary that left 20 first-graders and six educators dead.

I have little doubt that it was indeed the worst day of that paramedics life, as evidenced by what was revealed in these documents.

Included were photographs of the Lanza home showing numerous rounds of ammunition, gun magazines, shot-up paper targets, gun cases, shooting earplugs and a gun safe with a rifle in it. 

A former teacher of Lanza's was quoted as telling investigators that Lanza exhibited anti-social behavior, rarely interacted with other students and wrote obsessively "about battles, destruction and war." 

"In all my years of experience, I have known (redacted) grade boys to talk about things like this, but Adam's level of violence was disturbing," the teacher told investigators. The teacher added: "Adam's creative writing was so graphic that it could not be shared." 

The documents also fill in more details about how the shooting unfolded and how staff members looked out for the youngsters. Teachers heard janitor Rick Thorne try to get Lanza to leave the school. One teacher, who was hiding in a closet in the math lab, heard Thorne yell, "Put the gun down!" An aide said that she heard gunfire and that Thorne told her to close her door. Thorne survived. 

Teacher Kaitlin Roig told police she heard "rapid-fire shooting" near her classroom. She rushed her students into the classroom's bathroom, pulled a rolling storage unit in front of the bathroom door as a barricade and then locked the door. 

She heard a voice say, "Oh, please, no. Please, no." Eventually, police officers slid their badges under the bathroom door. Roig refused to come out and told them that if they were truly police, they should be able to get the key to the door which they did. 

Others weren't so lucky. 

Police Lt Christopher Vanghele said he and another officer found what appeared to be about 15 bodies packed in another bathroom. So many people had tried to cram inside the bathroom that the door couldn't be closed, and the shooter gunned them all down, Vanghele surmised. 

Vanghele also recalled another officer carrying a little girl in his arms and running for the exit. Vanghele ran with him through the parking lot as the officer repeated, "Come on sweetie, come on sweetie." The girl didn't survive.

There were amazing stories of bravery that day from the teachers, the principal who gave her life, and even the janitor who confronted the young gunman.

And the compassion of the police who had to witness such a terrible event, and then had the forethought to select only those paramedics that they thought could handle the scenes of carnage, to send into the school with the warning "This will be the worst day of your life."

This compassion stands in stark contrast to some on the Right who were so desperate to disprove another terrible shooting had taken place that they invented a crazy conspiracy about a false flag operation designed to energize lawmakers into passing new restrictions on gun ownership.

I wonder if any of those people would change their tune after talking to the police or paramedics who had to witness the aftermath of our lax gun laws in this country?

Yeah, probably not.

29 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:52 AM

    Chilling.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ibwilliamsi8:58 AM

    Some things in life are truly gut-wrenching. We learn to steel ourselves against the harsh realities of the world, and often we can read or witness terrible things and just feel disgust or pity. I know that the information in these pages is awful and I'm ready for it when I read it. But this:

    "Vanghele also recalled another officer carrying a little girl in his arms and running for the exit. Vanghele ran with him through the parking lot as the officer repeated, "Come on sweetie, come on sweetie." The girl didn't survive."

    makes my stomach jump and the tears practically squirt out of my eyes. Lanza wasn't one thing that happened to many people, he was many things that happened to many people.

    I think that the gun nuts like to look at this as a big picture thing, and it allows them to not address that any ONE of these actions was unacceptable in a civilized society.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous9:47 AM

      Crap, the twat ran out and bought two-tone a "powerful rifle" in honor of it!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:48 AM

      Then she said "...It was fun!" to buy that rifle. Fun?!! She's a fucking pervert.

      Time was when I would have been content for John McCain to shut Sarah up. Now I'm past that point, McCain needs to take the muzzles off the people who know about Sarah so that she's humiliated to the point of never showing her face or "voice" again. "Fun" my ass.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:53 AM

      Sounds like a lie to me. Maybe someone bought it for her to give to Todd. She has a documented history of mental disease......no guns allowed.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous9:01 AM

    I would like to see every one of the conspiracy idiots strapped into a chair and made to look at the photos until their tiny minds cracked.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous9:34 AM

      Great idea.

      Delete
    2. ibwilliamsi6:40 PM

      I don't think that they have the conscience for that to work. Besides, everyone knows that it's only important if it's important to THEM. THOSE weren't THEIR kids.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous9:24 AM

    The lovely large house where Adam Lanza lived with his mother and their relationships (guns) is also revealed in pictures taken after the school massacre. The father? Chilling as well. How do these things slip under the radar? Because they have status and money?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous9:34 AM

    This still saddens me on so many levels. He was diagnosed in 2006. Nancy Lanza was obviously in need of professional assistance in dealing with him, yet chose to placate him instead.

    The teacher that saw early on the "highly disturbing" writings yet did nothing. The psychologist who knew but "never thought it would come to this." There are warning signs early on and people need to take heed of them, not hope it's a phase someone will grow out of. Why would Nancy leave town if she felt something was "coming down?" She must have been petrified of him.

    At least the media honored the families' wishes to stay out of Newtown on the anniversary. I honestly didn't think they would! I admire the families' trying to turn it into a positive with "Sandy Hook Promise" and was so disgusted that their personal sojourn to DC to meet with lawmakers was all for naught. Think politicians aren't bought? They didn't give a DAMN.

    Bless you, angels.
    Bless you, survivors.
    Bless you, families.
    Bless you, first responders.
    Bless you, Newtown.



    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous9:42 AM

    I remember the media interviewing patrons and employees of the bar that Adam Lanza's mother frequented. They said "she was a frequent customer, very friendly". Almost impossible to imagine any parent who would not only turn her back on her responsibility to make sure that her son couldn't hurt other people but would also finance guns and ammunition for a son like he was. I think she was mentally ill herself. Unbelievable. I'm not sure I can read the full report.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous9:53 AM

    Remember the older gentleman who found the six (?) escaped kids in his driveway crying, and he brought them inside to nurture and listen to their heartwrenching experiences? Makes me tear up every time I think of it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:08 AM

      Yes. He gave them juice to drink and called their parents as well.

      Delete
    2. ibwilliamsi6:44 PM

      I had not heard this story. Can you even imagine?

      Delete
  8. Thank you for your post, Gryphen. You use your heart and writing talent well.
    "...strapped to a chair and made to view the photos..."? Sounds more rational than anything I have heard. Please put the asshat lawmaker boys in the same position.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:20 AM

      I love Gryphen's writing. Not butt-kissing, just fact.

      Delete
    2. Well said! I am laffin'... butt-kissing is a good for Sarah Plain as to Nugent, Cruz, Robertson, F. Graham, Dr. Laura, Rush, Greta, Sean H., ....the list is endless.
      That is probably all the sex she gets.
      "Lick those lips one more time, Sarah, , wiil ya?"

      Delete
    3. Anonymous1:45 PM

      Those lips are deeply herpied at times!

      Delete
  9. Anonymous10:08 AM

    Guns, Guns, Guns...How many guns does one person NEED?

    Adam Lanza was mentally ill and had access to guns. That was not a wise, healthy or sane situation. The "gun rights gun nuts people" advocate for having as many as one wants. Why?
    There is no rational reason.

    Too many people are killed every bloody day in this country by someone's precious gun. The NRA is complicit as they vociferously tout their right to bear arms. Shit happens. Oh well.

    Freud would have a field day with these whackos.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:52 AM

      He only had access because his mother was careless. He was not allowed to buy a gun. His mother let him use her guns. Her mistake cost her her life and many others.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:02 AM

      10:52 AM
      "his mother was careless". Careless? "He was not allowed to buy a gun. His mother let him use her guns". What prevented Adam from buying guns himself? State laws? Maybe there should be laws making it a felony if anyone buys guns or has guns if there's a mentally ill person in their home. Like a law like that would happen!

      Delete
    3. 10:52--his mother was not "careless."

      Careless would be simple negligence. That includes inattention.

      His mother was consciously, willfully and wantonly in disregard of the safety of her son, herself and others.

      His mother's actions are grossly negligent and perhaps even criminal.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous4:47 PM

      'Can't wait to go shooting with you'
      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2530143/Sandy-Hook-school-shootings-final-police-report-set-released.html

      Arsenal

      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2530239/Police-files-reveal-picture-gun-obsessed-mother-son-communicated-email-loved-shooting-together.html

      Delete
    5. Anonymous11:12 AM

      His mother was a doomsday prepper, which says paranoid to me. They were both very ill.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous10:10 AM

    you prick, you made me cry..

    ReplyDelete
  11. And it's in the wake of this very event, Palin claims to have gone gun-shopping for Todd? Imagine McCain having won '08, sending Palin to Newton to give some kind of conciliatory address, and the hypocrisy she's have to summon. Not that I doubt she could do it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:54 AM

      Thank GOD they didn't win '08. She was only about fame and money, and has more than proven since just how much she cares about America.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous10:53 AM

    Just reading this makes me overcome with grief. All over again.

    It just expresses the whole horrific tragedy and how these officers and paramedics and crew had to endure witnessing all this, with possibly most being parents themselves. I don't know how they coped and to this day, it must be a dark day for them with each anniversary.

    What is even more horrific is how the Right and obsessive gun nuts and people like Gov. Nicki Halley can boastfully post a photo of her new Christmas gift, showing her supposed prowess at aiming a gun at a target. How in God's Name can these people live with themselves? How self-important and narcissistic are they to push their lovely image with a gun everywhere while parents are still grieving over their children's murders?

    What part of "sensitivity and empathy" do these people not understand? What's next? Will they camp on these parents lawns and start shooting their windows to prove they love their guns? I am sure Sarah and Todd with their gun and rack are already trying to figure out how to make some photo op to defy those who fight for stricter gun laws, as we speak.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous11:03 AM

    I live in the tri-state area that encompasses Newtown, CN. Last Christmas was so hard to celebrate, although in a deeper way in meant more, and I couldn't listen to the news accounts of this release. Thank you this summary that I could read, but didn't need to know. I'm grateful.

    ReplyDelete

Don't feed the trolls!
It just goes directly to their thighs.