VIDEO: From hearing glass shatter through the phone and making a gut-wrenching call to a mother about her hurt son, to seeing the faces of panicking families โ some of the first to respond to the Annunciation Church shooting are opening up about that dark day, while hoping the light that followed from the community is what sticks with people most.
For Chad Howard, in his more than a decade working in a 911 dispatch center, taking countless calls, an early call on Aug. 27 will remain with him forever. โWe knew something pretty massive [was] happening,โ Howard, a Public Safety Telecommunicator at the Minneapolis 911 Dispatch Center, said about the initial 911 calls about the shooting.
โOne of the teachers inside the sanctuary was on the floor, you could hear the gunshots in the background coming through the windows, and she said she was inside the church, underneath the pews, with their students, you know, trying to protect them as best they could,โ Howard said about a call he remembers from that day.
