Sparks Middle School 911 calls: ‘We have a teacher down’

SPARKS, Nev.--The 911 tapes released Tuesday by the Sparks Police Department reveal the deluge of calls for help from adults and children--one young voice is almost breathless---in the minutes that a 12-year-old shooter opened fire on campus Monday, killing a math teacher and wounding two students before taking his own life.

“911 emergency,” said the dispatch operator.

“Hi, this is Pam, I’m calling from Sparks Middle School. We have a shooting at our school.”

“You have a shooting?” the operator asked.

“We have a teacher down,” the caller said.

PHOTOS: Sparks Middle School shooting

Another caller, out of breath, told the 911 operator that “somebody brought a gun to school that shot a teacher.”

A moment later, the caller said “they shot again.”

Another caller asked for an ambulance.

“I’ve got a kid down that’s been shot,” he told the operator.

Among the many calls and recorded radio traffic, authorities can be heard responding to the shooting and sweeping the school to make sure the campus was safe. At one point in the radio traffic they confirm that the shooter was down.

Police said that student, using a 9mm semi-automatic handgun, drew his weapon about 7:15 a.m. Monday and started shooting.

The teacher, Michael Landsberry, tried to intervene, but was shot by the student. Authorities responded in a matter of minutes, but by the time law enforcement officers arrived, the episode was over.

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