BSO Releases 911 Calls From Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Int'l Airport Shooting
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FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – More than 125 people dialed 911 after a shooter opened fire in the baggage claim of Terminal 2 at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in early January.
The calls are from areas not directly around the shooting.
Clearly, you can hear the chaos and terror in the recordings.
"There are alarms going off. Somebody is screaming he had a gun," one caller is heard saying.
The sheriff's office released 10 calls tonight, lasting a little over 42 minutes.
"We heard cops yelling and screaming. There is a ruckus outside in the airport. There is nobody in the terminal at Delta right now," another caller says.
Delta employees were worried it was a bomb and worried they needed to evacuate.
The 911 operators told all callers to hide and lock doors.
OPERATOR: "Do you have a lock on the door that you can lock?"
CALLER: "Yes. We do have a lock right? There's a lock? They've got a bunch of stuff barricaded against the door."
Despite a fairly quick takedown of the alleged shooter, Esteban Santiago, in Delta's baggage claim, calls continued to pour in.
Dispatchers were unclear of the shooter's location.
"No we don't. We've got both from Terminal 1, 3, and 2. All we have had multiple calls," an operator tells a caller.
And then more panic set in, this time in Terminal 3.
"There's a ton of people running down this way and I'm at the bar. Just send the (expletive) police on the double please," a caller said.
A store clerk saw the hysteria and took off running.
"I'm hiding in the closet of the janitor's closet. Ma'am please," the clerk said.
The 911 operator stayed on the phone with the clerk for more than 10 minutes, even calling back when they got disconnected.
Through the 10 calls you can hear the panic, chaos and disbelief.
BSO said there were 25 calls directly related to the shooting, and 11 of the calls have been cleared by the FBI for release.
They have not said though when they will give them to the media.
