Taking into account all the eyewitness accounts, I make it approximately 10.55 before the local police scanners pick up word of the Sandy Hook shooting and police go into action with sirens blazing, this means the first wave of police to enter the school did so, to all intents and purposes, on the quiet, with no sirens and using a separate channel.
It is unfathomable that all the eyewitnesses could miss the distinct sounds of police sirens from their first hand accounts of the shooting and subsequent police arrival, yet it is universal that not one eyewitness at the time immediately surrounding the shooting reports hearing sirens, indicating the first wave of police were either already on site, or arrived without sirens.
This video is a compilation of eyewitness accounts in which they acknowledge the police arrival but do not report sirens (nobody does):
[
link to www.youtube.com]
In addition to the eyewitnesses inside the school, Gene Rosen reports finding children sitting near his driveway and having "no idea why they were there"(1), he doesn't report hearing sirens or seeing police cars yet it would have taken several minutes for children to make it to his driveway. Gene Rosen changes his story many times and would be easily dismissed as a complete fraud were it not that his testimony contains elements that are now a part of the official story, one thing he never changes is that upon seeing the children he is unaware of any turmoil at the school which would be impossible had police responded to the initial 911 calls at 9.35 with sirens blazing.
Another detailed account is from associate editor and photographer Shannon Hicks of the local "Newtown Bee" gives a very good insight as to when the drill went "live". Shannon is a volunteer firefighter who was at her Newspaper office on the morning of the shooting, she is quoted as hearing the news through the police scanner and being "behind the first dozen police officers"(2), it is also noteworthy that her office is located at 5 Church Hill road(3) which is less than 2 miles from Sandy Hook School and is the main access road from Newtown to Sandy Hook.
Shannon reports arriving on the scene at 9.59(4), a likely accurate time given how specific it is and her camera will log the time each photo is taken, yet we are told that the first police transmissions and response occurred at 9.35, so how would it take Shannon so long to travel under 2 miles? Even if the first police radio transmissions were done on a different channel, given the location of her offices, how could she not hear sirens from the initial police response at 9.35 if they were used?
In another interview(5), Fire Chief William Halstead, who was in the firehouse at the end of Dickinson Dr (which is the same street the school is located on), says "I happened to be hearing the call come in, actually I heard a lot of sirens", it is then reported that he "came out of the firehouse, and saw an EMT motion for help with an injured woman". It can only be interpreted that by the time he heard sirens or heard the "call come in" that the evacuation was well under way with a patient already at the firehouse, meaning he also was completely unaware of the initial police response either through hearing sirens or via his scanner.
This is a repost but it contains more information than the first and it is a very valid question, if anyone has comments or information to add (pro or con) I will be very interested.
(1) [
link to www.youtube.com]
(2) [
link to www.poynter.org]
(3) [
link to newtownbee.com]
(4) [
link to lightbox.time.com]
(5) [
link to www.youtube.com]
Australia
United States
