Newly released 911 records from the June 12 mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando provide a harrowing look into what victims saw and heard during the roughly four-hour attack that left 49 dead and 53 injured.
The logs -- known as the "in progress incident report" -- include the notes 911 dispatchers took as they received calls by the minute. Released Tuesday by the City of Orlando in cooperation with the FBI, the reports describe shots fired; eyewitnesses saying that the gunman also had a bomb; and heartbreaking updates of families calling 911 as their loved ones trapped inside the club stopped responding to text messages.
The first calls for shots fired from inside the club came through to 911 just after 2 a.m. local time. Reports indicate people scrambled to hide in bathrooms, closets, dressing rooms, offices and an attic space; some saw the shooter, while others could only hear gunfire.
One dispatcher speaking to a female caller hiding in a bathroom recorded over three minutes of time:
"She is in the bathroom."
"Thinks they're out of bullets.
"Someone screaming help."
"My caller is no longer responding. Just an open line with moaning."
The shooter pledged allegiance to the Islamic State within 40 minutes of starting the rampage. Within an hour of receiving the first distress calls, a dispatcher notes the shooter "is saying that he is a terrorist and has several bombs strapped to him in the downstairs female restroom."
Emergency responders worked throughout the morning: The SWAT team was paged within 16 minutes of the first call, but didn't breach the building until nearly three hours later.
At least 25 news outlets from around the country sued the City of Orlando for access to city fire and police records related to the attack, and for the audio from the nearly 30-minute call between the shooter, Omar Mateen, and police crisis negotiators. The FBI, which is leading the investigation, last week released a full transcript of the 911 call made by Mateen.
A hearing is scheduled to sort out the ongoing legal battle between news organizations pressing law enforcement for other 911 call audio and the video footage from the responding officers' body cameras.
The FBI is still piecing together details of Mateen's life and possible motives in the wake of the attack.
Previous reports indicated Mateen, who claimed loyalty to the so-called Islamic State in a 911 call, had terrorist ties, while others suggest Mateen was not particularly religious or radicalized and acted on personal beliefs fueled by homophobia.
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