Newtown police response to shooting under review
Newtown police response to shooting under review
John Pirro
Updated 12:2 9 am, Sunday, July 7, 2013
- http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/16/66/27.../5/628x471.jpg First responders converge at Sandy Hook Fire Department near Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Dec. 14, 2012. Twenty children and six teachers were killed in the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Photo: Morgan Kaolian, Morgan Kaolian/AEROPIX
First responders converge at Sandy Hook Fire Department near Sandy... - http://ww4.hdnux.com/photos/16/66/36.../5/628x471.jpg Armed federal agents approach Sandy Hook Elementary School in response to shootings that killed 20 children and six teachers on Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. Photo: Michael Duffy | Buy This Photo
Armed federal agents approach Sandy Hook Elementary School in... - http://ww4.hdnux.com/photos/16/67/05.../3/628x471.jpg In this photo provided by the Newtown Bee, Connecticut State Police lead children from the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., following the shooting there Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Newtown Bee, Shannon Hicks) MANDATORY CREDIT Photo: Shannon Hicks, AP
In this photo provided by the Newtown Bee, Connecticut State Police... - http://ww2.hdnux.com/photos/16/66/30.../8/628x471.jpg Jillian Soto breaks down upon learning that her sister, Victoria Soto, a teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School, was one of the victims in the shootings on Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. (Jessica Hill / Associated Press) Photo: A2012
Jillian Soto breaks down upon learning that her sister, Victoria... - http://ww3.hdnux.com/photos/16/66/61.../3/628x471.jpg This was the scene at Dickenson Road leading to Sandy Hook Elementary School after shootings at the school Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. Photo: Michael Duffy | Buy This Photo
This was the scene at Dickenson Road leading to Sandy Hook... - http://ww3.hdnux.com/photos/16/66/64.../5/628x471.jpg After the horrific shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School nearby, families leave the Sandy Hook Fire Department where they gathered in Newtown, Conn. on Friday December 14, 2012. Photo: Christian Abraham | Buy This Photo
After the horrific shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School nearby,... - http://ww3.hdnux.com/photos/16/67/00.../7/628x471.jpg Joanna Rus, 5, and brother Julian, 8, of Southbury, hold lit candles outside of St. Rose Church as hundreds gather for a memorial service there in Newtown, Conn. on Friday December 14, 2012. Photo: Christian Abraham | Buy This Photo
Joanna Rus, 5, and brother Julian, 8, of Southbury, hold lit... - http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/16/70/00.../3/628x471.jpg Jaime Reinos, 12, of Monroe, mourns near the Sandy Hook Elementary School sign which is on the corner of Riverside Road and Dickinson Drive in Sandy Hook, Conn., Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012. Town resident Adam Lanza, 20, is suspected of killing 27 people at the school Friday morning. Photo: Bob Luckey | Buy This Photo
Jaime Reinos, 12, of Monroe, mourns near the Sandy Hook Elementary... - http://ww2.hdnux.com/photos/16/70/00.../3/628x471.jpg Brothers Thomas (left) and Steven Leuci, 13 and 9 of Newtown, mourn near the Sandy Hook Elementary School sign which is on the corner of Riverside Road and Dickinson Drive in Sandy Hook, Conn., Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012. Town resident Adam Lanza, 20, is suspected of killing 27 people at the school Friday morning. Photo: Bob Luckey | Buy This Photo
Brothers Thomas (left) and Steven Leuci, 13 and 9 of Newtown, mourn... - http://ww4.hdnux.com/photos/16/70/00.../3/628x471.jpg Mourners near the Sandy Hook Elementary School sign which is on the corner of Riverside Road and Dickinson Drive in Sandy Hook, Conn., Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012. Photo: Bob Luckey | Buy This Photo
Mourners near the Sandy Hook Elementary School sign which is on the... - http://ww3.hdnux.com/photos/16/67/63.../3/628x471.jpg Homeowner Paul Sullivan set up 27 little US flags and lights around a larger flag in memory of the victims from yesterday's mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, at the edge of his property along I84 in Newtown, Conn. on Saturday December 2012. The larger flag was put up back on 9/11 and was replaced every other year or so. Sullivan thought it would be fitting to add the little flags because of the tragedy. Photo: Christian Abraham | Buy This Photo
Homeowner Paul Sullivan set up 27 little US flags and lights around... - http://ww2.hdnux.com/photos/16/67/63.../3/628x471.jpg Impromptu memorials have been set up on the overpass at exit 10 off of I84 in Newtown, Conn. on Saturday December 2012. Yesterday's mass shooting at Sandy hook Elementary School left 28 dead, of which 20 were children. Photo: Christian Abraham | Buy This Photo
Impromptu memorials have been set up on the overpass at exit 10 off... - http://ww3.hdnux.com/photos/16/70/01.../3/628x471.jpg Support is given to a woman who came from out of town to pay her respects, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, to the victims of yesterday's tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Photo: Will Waldron, Hearst Connecticut Newspapers/Wi | Buy This Photo
Support is given to a woman who came from out of town to pay her... - http://ww3.hdnux.com/photos/16/67/65.../3/628x471.jpg Wearing a pair a angel's wings, 5-year Calliope CeBallos, of Shelton, walks with her family towards Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 15th, 2012. They left the wings on the school's sign, which has become a memorial to those killed at the school on Friday. Photo: Ned Gerard | Buy This Photo
Wearing a pair a angel's wings, 5-year Calliope CeBallos, of... - http://ww4.hdnux.com/photos/16/70/00.../3/628x471.jpg Angel's wings hang on the Sandy Hook Elementary School sign which is on the corner of Riverside Road and Dickinson Drive in Sandy Hook, Conn., Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012. Town resident Adam Lanza, 20, is suspected of killing 27 people at the school Friday morning. Photo: Bob Luckey | Buy This Photo
Angel's wings hang on the Sandy Hook Elementary School sign which... - http://ww2.hdnux.com/photos/16/67/74.../3/628x471.jpg Ted Kowalczuk, of Milford, and his friend Rachel Schiavone, of Norwalk, attend a candlelight vigil held behind Stratfor High School on the Town Hall Green in Stratford, Conn. on Saturday December 15, 2012. Kowalczuk and Schiavone were close friends to Stratford High graduate Vicki Soto, who was killed in yesterday's mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. Soto was a teacher at the school where 27 people died. Photo: Christian Abraham | Buy This Photo
Ted Kowalczuk, of Milford, and his friend Rachel Schiavone, of... - http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/16/70/01.../3/628x471.jpg Stratford High School senior Caitlyn Larocque, front, sheds a tear as she and hundreds of others attend a candlelight vigil, in memory of victims from yesterday's mass shooting in Newtown, which was held behind Stratford High School on the Town Hall Green in Stratford, Conn. on Saturday December 15, 2012. Photo: Christian Abraham | Buy This Photo
Stratford High School senior Caitlyn Larocque, front, sheds a tear... - http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/16/70/55.../5/628x471.jpg Carmen Cohen weeps as she is comforted by her neice, Jelsey Romero, 16, both of Danbury, during a visit to the large memorial for victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on Washington Avenue in the Sandy Hook section of Newtown on Sunday, December 16, 2012. At left are Elizabeth, 9, and Maria Romero, also of Danbury. Photo: Brian A. Pounds | Buy This Photo
Carmen Cohen weeps as she is comforted by her neice, Jelsey Romero,... - http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/16/70/72.../3/628x471.jpg Sandy Hook Elementary pre-k student Connor Monaghan, 4 of Newtown, looks at the memorial to shooting victims outside Newtown High School where President Barack Obama spoke on Sunday, December 16, 2012. Photo: Brian A. Pounds | Buy This Photo
Sandy Hook Elementary pre-k student Connor Monaghan, 4 of Newtown,... - http://ww4.hdnux.com/photos/16/70/73.../3/628x471.jpg A photo from the Emilie Parker Fund Facebook page shows President Barack Obama meeting with children before the interfaith service at Newtown High School on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012. Photo: Contributed Photo
A photo from the Emilie Parker Fund Facebook page shows President... - http://ww2.hdnux.com/photos/16/70/75.../3/628x471.jpg Friends and family console each other befoe the interfaith vigil for the families and residents affected by the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting at Newtown High School in Newtown, Conn., on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012. Photo: Jason Rearick | Buy This Photo
Friends and family console each other befoe the interfaith vigil... - http://ww3.hdnux.com/photos/16/70/75.../3/628x471.jpg People pray during an interfaith vigil for the families and residents affected by the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting at Newtown High School in Newtown, Conn., on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012. Photo: Jason Rearick
People pray during an interfaith vigil for the families and... - http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/16/71/57.../5/628x471.jpg Veronika Pozner leaves the funeral for her six year-old son Noah Posner, killed in the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, at the Abraham L. Green Funeral home in Fairfield on Monday, December 17, 2012. Photo: Brian A. Pounds | Buy This Photo
Veronika Pozner leaves the funeral for her six year-old son Noah... - http://ww4.hdnux.com/photos/16/72/51.../7/628x471.jpg The casket of James Mattioli, one of the twenty students killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, is carried from St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Newtown on Tuesday, December 18, 2012. Photo: Brian A. Pounds | Buy This Photo
The casket of James Mattioli, one of the twenty students killed in... - http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/16/75/14.../7/628x471.jpg Stamford and Westport police outside the home of Nancy Lanza December 18, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut. Nancy Lanza was killed by her son Adam before going on his rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012. AFP PHOTO/DON EMMERT (Photo credit should read DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images) Photo: Don Emmert, AFP/Getty Images
Stamford and Westport police outside the home of Nancy Lanza... - http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/16/72/76.../3/628x471.jpg Traffic chokes the main intersection at Sandy Hook, in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 18th, 2012. Traffic in Sandy Hook and Newtown continues to grow following last Friday's mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Photo: Ned Gerard | Buy This Photo
Traffic chokes the main intersection at Sandy Hook, in Newtown,... - http://ww2.hdnux.com/photos/16/72/75.../3/628x471.jpg Children leave Hawley School Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012 following their first day back at school since Friday's mass shooting in Newtown, Conn. Photo: Autumn Driscoll | Buy This Photo
Children leave Hawley School Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012 following their... - http://ww3.hdnux.com/photos/16/72/76.../5/628x471.jpg Zachary, 2, and Nathan, 4, Johnston, of Easton, wear the new fire helmets they received from firefighters at Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire Department, in Newtown, Conn. Dec. 18th, 2012. The boys, seen here with their mother, Joelle Johnston, and neighbor Carolette Johnson, visited the Sandy Hook firehouse Tuesday to delivers a gift to first responders.
Photo: Ned Gerard | Buy This Photo
Zachary, 2, and Nathan, 4, Johnston, of Easton, wear the new fire... - http://ww2.hdnux.com/photos/16/73/00.../3/628x471.jpg This sign in front of a house on Main Street in Newtown, is one of many memorials in honor of the 26 victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting last Friday. Photo: Carol Kaliff | Buy This Photo
This sign in front of a house on Main Street in Newtown, is one of... - http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/16/75/13.../3/628x471.jpg Greenwich High School cheerleader Dakota Hirsch, 14, a freshman, during the community vigil in memory of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, at Greenwich High School, Tuesday night, Dec. 18, 2012. Photo: Bob Luckey
Greenwich High School cheerleader Dakota Hirsch, 14, a freshman,... - http://ww4.hdnux.com/photos/16/73/32.../3/628x471.jpg Nasiz Dean, 5, hellps hold a candle with his mom Victoria, during a candlelight vigil held to remember the Newtown massacre victims at Norwalk Community College in Norwalk, Conn. on Tuesday December 18, 2012. Photo: Christian Abraham | Buy This Photo
Nasiz Dean, 5, hellps hold a candle with his mom Victoria, during a... - http://ww3.hdnux.com/photos/17/03/76.../3/628x471.jpg Mourners depart the funeral of slain teacher Victoria Soto, 27, at the Lordship Community Church on December 19, 2012 in Stratford, Connecticut. The first grade teacher died while reportedly trying to protect her students during last Friday's shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images) Photo: John Moore
Mourners depart the funeral of slain teacher Victoria Soto, 27, at... - http://ww3.hdnux.com/photos/16/73/77.../3/628x471.jpg Firefighters stand at attention outside the funeral for Daniel Barden, one of the twenty children killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Newtown on Wednesday, December 19, 2012. Photo: Brian A. Pounds | Buy This Photo
Firefighters stand at attention outside the funeral for Daniel... - http://ww2.hdnux.com/photos/16/75/15.../3/628x471.jpg An FDNY firefighter and his son exit the funeral of Daniel Barden, one of the twenty children killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, outside St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Newtown on Wednesday, December 19, 2012. Photo: Brian A. Pounds
An FDNY firefighter and his son exit the funeral of Daniel Barden,... - http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/16/73/77.../3/628x471.jpg Mourners enter past lines of firefighters outside the funeral for Daniel Barden, one of the twenty children killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Newtown on Wednesday, December 19, 2012. Photo: Brian A. Pounds | Buy This Photo
Mourners enter past lines of firefighters outside the funeral for... - http://ww4.hdnux.com/photos/16/74/43.../3/628x471.jpg Mourners light candles and say prayers at a memorial for shooting victims near Sandy Hook Elementary School Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012 in Newtown, Conn. Photo: Autumn Driscoll | Buy This Photo
Mourners light candles and say prayers at a memorial for shooting... - http://ww3.hdnux.com/photos/16/75/13.../3/628x471.jpg Ten-year-old Fijare Plous, of Higganum, lights a candle at a memorial for shooting victims near Sandy Hook Elementary School Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012 in Newtown, Conn. The Plous family was on their way to visit relatives out of state and wanted to stop in Newtown to pay their respects to the victims of last week's mass shooting. Photo: Autumn Driscoll
Ten-year-old Fijare Plous, of Higganum, lights a candle at a... - http://ww2.hdnux.com/photos/16/75/26.../7/628x471.jpg Mourners exit St. Mary of the Assumption Roman Catholic Church in Katonah, NY, after the funeral of Sandy Hook Elementary School Special Education teacher Anne Marie Murphy on Thursday, December 20, 2012. Photo: Lindsay Niegelberg, Niegelberg | Buy This Photo
Mourners exit St. Mary of the Assumption Roman Catholic Church in... - http://ww4.hdnux.com/photos/16/75/26.../3/628x471.jpg Cardinal Timothy Dolan comforts mourners as he exits St. Mary of the Assumption Roman Catholic Church in Katonah, NY, after the funeral of Sandy Hook Elementary School Special Education teacher Anne Marie Murphy on Thursday, December 20, 2012. Photo: Lindsay Niegelberg, Niegelberg | Buy This Photo
Cardinal Timothy Dolan comforts mourners as he exits St. Mary of... - http://ww4.hdnux.com/photos/16/75/37.../3/628x471.jpg Mourners exit the building after the funeral for six year-old Benjamin Andrew Wheeler at Trinity Episcopal Church in Newtown on Thursday, December 20, 2012. Photo: Joshua Trujillo, Joshua Trujillo/Hearst Newspaper
Mourners exit the building after the funeral for six year-old... - http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/16/75/71.../3/628x471.jpg Eight year old Samantha DelGiudice, a third grader at Sandy Hook Elementary School, places some flowers and a stuffed animal at a memorial for victims from last Friday's shooting massacre at the school in Newtown, Conn. on Thursday December 20, 2012. Photo: Christian Abraham | Buy This Photo
Eight year old Samantha DelGiudice, a third grader at Sandy Hook... - http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/16/76/31.../3/628x471.jpg People, including Joe Saleem, center, observe a moment of silence led by Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy, Lt. Governor Nancy Wyman and First Selectman Patricia Llodra in front of Edmond Town Hall in Newtown. The moment of silence and bell tolling was held across the state on Friday, December 21, 2012, the one week anniversary of the Sandy Hook shootings. Saleem said he lived in Newtown for 54 years but moved to North Carolina. But after the violence that took 28 people, Saleem returned to his hometown. "I've had three sleepless nights," he said. Photo: Joshua Trujillo, Joshua Trujillo/Hearst Newspaper
People, including Joe Saleem, center, observe a moment of silence... - http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/16/76/51.../3/628x471.jpg Members of the Sandy Hook Fire and Rescue Company gather for a moment of remembrance in front of a memorial to victims Friday morning as bells toll at 9:30a.m. all around the state, Dec. 21, 2012. Photo: Carol Kaliff | Buy This Photo
Members of the Sandy Hook Fire and Rescue Company gather for a... - http://ww2.hdnux.com/photos/16/76/52.../3/628x471.jpg A Memorial Mass for Grace McDonnell, a student victim of the Newtown shootings, is held Friday, Dec. 21, 2012 at St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church in Newtown, Conn. Photo: Autumn Driscoll | Buy This Photo
A Memorial Mass for Grace McDonnell, a student victim of the... - http://ww2.hdnux.com/photos/16/76/64.../3/628x471.jpg Nicole and Ian Hockley stand with their son Jake, as they wait to release 26 balloons in memory of the 26 victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter. A funeral service for their son, and Jake's brother, Dylan Hockley, one of the victims, was held at Walnut Hill Community Church in Bethel, Conn. Friday, Dec. 21, 2012. Photo: Carol Kaliff | Buy This Photo
Nicole and Ian Hockley stand with their son Jake, as they wait to... - http://ww3.hdnux.com/photos/16/77/50.../3/628x471.jpg Newtown First Selectman Pat Llodra attends the vigil at Fairfield Hills Campus in Newtown on Friday, Dec. 21, 2012, one week after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Photo: Jason Rearick | Buy This Photo
Newtown First Selectman Pat Llodra attends the vigil at Fairfield... - http://ww4.hdnux.com/photos/16/77/50.../3/628x471.jpg Volunteers errect an American flag-patterned display in preparation for the vigil at Fairfield Hills Campus in Newtown on Friday, Dec. 21, 2012, one week after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Photo: Jason Rearick | Buy This Photo
Volunteers errect an American flag-patterned display in preparation... - http://ww4.hdnux.com/photos/17/00/65.../3/628x471.jpg "God Bless Our Angels" reads a roadside sign near the Newtown town line in Monroe, Conn., Saturday, Dec. 22, 2012. Photo: Bob Luckey | Buy This Photo
"God Bless Our Angels" reads a roadside sign near the Newtown town... - http://ww3.hdnux.com/photos/17/00/65.../3/628x471.jpg "Faith Hope Love" reads the holiday lights on the front lawn of a house in downtown Sandy Hook which has turned into a shrine to the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, Newtown, Conn., Saturday, Dec. 22, 2012. Photo: Bob Luckey
"Faith Hope Love" reads the holiday lights on the front lawn of a...
NEWTOWN -- Video and audio from cruiser cameras of Newtown police who responded to the Dec. 14 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School show officers did not enter the building while about 10 shots were fired by gunman Adam Lanza, says a source familiar with the State Police investigation into the shootings.
"There is no doubt there was some delay," the source said. "The question is whether it was significant or justified."
Some Newtown officers have been re-interviewed multiple times by investigators seeking to establish a firm timeline for the events of that morning, department officials confirmed. Those interviews, the source said, have touched a raw wound among Newtown officers, most of whom are still dealing with the trauma resulting from what they saw and experienced at the school.
Some Newtown cops, in conversations with troopers, have questioned whether they will be unfairly second-guessed for their actions.
Recordings of the police dispatch transmission after the first 911 call was placed from the Sandy Hook school that morning are a welter of confusing scraps of information. The police radio traffic indicated the first dispatch transmission that a shooter was in the building came at 9:35:52 a.m. Later transmissions, many of which are difficult to hear or which were scrambled, don't provide details for when police entered the building.
As a result, the video and audio from the police cruisers of the first officers arriving at the school are seen as critical in helping investigators piece together what happened.
Danbury State's Attorney Stephen A. Sedensky III, who is in charge of the investigation, has said Lanza fired a total of 154 rounds from the rifle before ending his own life with a single pistol shot after police arrived.
While the bulk of the state police investigative report will document Lanza's activities leading up to and during his rampage, it also will provide insights into the way police responded to the second-worst mass killing at a U.S. school in history.
In that respect, the report would be similar to investigations that examined the law-enforcement response to other mass shootings, such as the 1999 killings at Columbine High School in Colorado and the 2010 shooting at the Hartford Distributors warehouse in Manchester.
Among other areas, investigators are focusing on how quickly Newtown police officers entered the building where Lanza, using a semi-automatic rifle and employing tactics he'd mastered through countless hours of playing violent video games, killed 20 first-graders and six adults in about four and a half minutes.
In an interview, Newtown Police Chief Michael Kehoe bristled at the notion that officers' response on Dec. 14 should have been more aggressive in the chaotic first minutes of their arrival at the school.
He said the police response was complicated by initial reports, eventually determined to be false, that there was a second shooter at the school. A team of officers that was prepared to enter the building through a rear door had to wait until a person spotted behind the school was found and determined to be harmless, he said.
Another Newtown officer said in January that the first police officers who arrived at the school's parking lot heard shots and believed Lanza was firing at them.
Kehoe said the cruiser videos are only part of the vast trove of information that must be examined and analyzed before state police can conclusively determine what happened. Factors such as radio transmissions and accounts from officers and others about what they saw and heard will be considered as well.
"We have to know what they were told, what they observed," he said.
Kehoe said he hasn't reviewed the recordings from the cruiser cameras because they are in the hands of state police.
"I can't comment on what I haven't seen," he said.
The source declined to specify how much time elapsed during the period when up to 10 shots were fired by Lanza while officers who had arrived at the scene were yet to enter the school.
Sedensky, who will write the final report once the state police conclude their work, told Hearst Connecticut Newspapers that it was too early to say whether it will include an assessment of the police department response.
Any critical assessment of the police response is likely to be perceived as insensitive in a small town still struggling to overcome the anguish of Dec. 14.
Fourteen Newtown police officers in a department of 45 went into Sandy Hook Elementary School that day. Newtown residents rallied around the department in the weeks after the shooting, displaying signs that hailed officers as "heroes" and showering them with accolades.
When it was learned that worker compensation programs would not cover some of the mental health problems the shootings inflicted on police and emergency responders, there was widespread public outrage. The General Assembly responded by creating a special fund for donors to contribute money to help police and other first responders deal with emotional and other issues.
`The quicker you go in ...'
The April 20, 1999, shootings at Columbine High School changed everything.
At Columbine, the first arriving officers set up a perimeter outside the building and waited for specially trained SWAT teams to arrive. Meanwhile, the two gunmen, Eric Harris and Dylan Kleebold, roamed through the building for more than 40 minutes, setting off pipe bombs and shooting victims at random before committing suicide.
The first SWAT officers didn't enter the school until nearly an hour after the shooting began. All told, 13 people died.
After Columbine, many police departments across the country, including Newtown's, abandoned "surround-and-contain" tactics in favor of more immediate action. Police departments trained officers to respond to active shooter situations by moving toward the sound of gunfire and neutralizing the gunman as quickly as possible.
"The quicker you go in ... the quicker you can make it stop," said Capt. Christopher Davis of the Manchester Police Department. Davis supervised his department's investigation into the 2010 shooting at the Hartford Distributors warehouse in which eight people were killed.
In the Hartford Distributors shooting, Davis said, two Manchester officers were at the warehouse within three minutes of the 911 call. They encountered wounded victims outside the entrance and moved them to safer locations, a process he estimated took an additional two minutes.
By that time, three other officers arrived, and the five entered the building together. That's when gunman Omar Thornton took his own life, Davis said.
These days, officers are instructed not to tend to the wounded but to track down the shooter first, said Peter Valentin, a former state police detective who now teaches at the University of New Haven.
While Davis and spokesmen for several other Connecticut police departments were reluctant to discuss specific tactics employed in active shooter scenarios, they said the ideal response involves a quick four-member team deployed in a diamond formation.
"We would rather have that number for tactical reasons, but we may be in a position where we can't wait. It all depends on what's occurring at the time," said Lt. Lowell DePalma, commander of the patrol division and head of the SWAT team at the Southington Police Department.
Use of a four-member team allows the officers to protect each other from a gunman or gunmen who might suddenly appear to the sides or behind them.
But depending on circumstances, police professionals said, a smaller team, or even a single officer, can act to take out the shooter.
In recent years, some police trainers, such as Ron Borsch of the South East Area Law Enforcement Regional Training Academy in Bedford, Ohio, have advocated aggressive action by single officers to reduce the death toll.
Mass shooters, Borsch said, usually commit suicide when they know police are moving in.
"Solo officers are most effective. The killer is in a race to beat the police arrival," he said, adding that studies have shown the vast majority of successful "aborts" of mass shootings are initiated by a single officer or even a single armed civilian.
When police wait for backup, aborts decrease significantly, Borsch said.
J.D. Lightfoot, an instructor for a Midwestern police department, wrote in a Feburary police journal article that the most effective response often is a single-officer or two-person team. He noted that a single officer ended a 2009 shooting at a Carthage, N.C., nursing home and an off-duty cop was instrumental in halting the carnage at the 2007 Trolley Square shooting in Salt Lake City.
"During an active shooter incident, you are dealing with a very brutal equation: Time taken by first responders equals casualties," Lightfoot wrote.
`We probably will never know'
Newtown's active shooter protocol was instituted in 2002. The 45-member department "trains on it regularly," Kehoe said.
He summarized it as "all hands on deck. Don't wait for SWAT. Find the threat and neutralize the threat as quickly as possible."
Police union president Scott Ruszczyk said Newtown's policy, like those of many other departments, involves the use of four officers.
"They arrived very close together and went in. There is no indication of any delays," Ruszczyk said of the Dec. 14 response.
Capt. Joseph Rios, who was one of the first of the 14 Newtown officers to arrive at the school, also said he was not aware of one of any delays in entering the building.
According to Newtown and state police radio transmissions recorded Dec. 14, the first call came from the school about 9:35 a.m. Seconds later the dispatcher went on the air and reported "someone is shooting the building."
But the radio traffic, posted on YouTube by www.Radioman911.com and later verified by independent sources, also indicates police were receiving conflicting information about the number of shooters.
Except for the initial transmission, attributed to the police dispatcher, other speakers on the recording were not identified.
At 9:38, first responders were told the shooting had stopped, and the school was in lockdown. But 30 seconds after 9:40 a.m., an unidentified individual said the gunman was still firing shots in the office area.
Police were also told that teachers had seen "two shadows running past the building," sparking fears that more than one gunman was involved.
Officer William Chapman was at the police station doing paperwork when he heard the initial dispatch report, ran to his cruiser and sped to the school on Dickinson Drive, about three miles away.
Rifle shots could still be heard when he arrived three minutes later, Chapman told The New York Times in January. They were so loud that officers were looking around to see who was shooting at them.
Investigators have determined that several rounds from Lanza's .223 caliber Bushmaster rifle passed through the windows of a classroom and struck cars of teachers that were in the parking lot, possibly causing the responding Newtown officers to think they were being fired on, the source said.
"Whether they were misses or if he was shooting at children running past the classroom or at police, we probably will never know," the source said.
Kehoe said it was not surprising that state police investigators have interviewed his officers several times about their accounts, given the scope of the tragedy and the massive response it generated from emergency personnel, state police and other municipal departments, all arriving at the school after Newtown police.
"It's because a lot happened in a very short period of time," he said. "They (state police) are just trying to get everything straight. There were hundreds of police officers at the scene, and as the investigators speak to them, they may become aware of gaps in the recollections of our officers who were there. It's nothing to do with what they did, it's what they remember about what they did."
A number of first responders were treated for post-traumatic stress disorder because of what they saw and experienced on Dec. 14, exhausting their sick time because they were unable to work. One has yet to return to duty.
Last month, a number of Newtown officers participated in a tactical debriefing with police chiefs Jim Heavey of Greenwich and David Caron of Glastonbury, something Caron said is normally done after major incidents.
"Pretty much what we try to do is give the officers a chance to discuss it and put it in some perspective. When we respond to such horrific incidents, it gives them a chance to discuss what they've seen and done," Caron said. "It's an opportunity for them to vent."
Staff writers Michael P. Mayko and Libor Jany contributed to this story.
jpirro@newstimes.com; 203-731-3342
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