In part one of this series, we looked at how the siege began and the number of terrorists involved. Let us continue with our review of day one.
It is estimated that during the initial hostage taking phase, about 50 people were able to flee and alert the authorities to the attack. Police then arrived at the school and a shootout began between the police and the terrorists. The police were badly outnumbered and outgunned resulting in two to eight police officers killed and another reported dozen or more injured in the initial shootout. The attackers took around 1,100 people in the school hostage but this number was lowered by the government and reported as 200-400. (One book written about the event put the hostage count at over 1,200.) The hostage takers collected everyone’s cell phone under the threat of death and rounded up 15-20 of what they deemed to be the strongest men (and therefore most likely to resist or fight back). The terrorists then took the men into an upstairs hallway where they were executed by use of an explosive. Other hostages were forced to throw the bodies outside of the school and clean up the blood from the floor. One of the hostages assigned these duties was able to escape by leaping from one of the windows while disposing the bodies. He was initially mistaken as hostage taker and detained before being released.
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The remainder of this article is part of the book "Active Killers and the Crimes They Perpetrated," available in print or ebook via Amazon.
Joshua Borelli
Joshua Borelli has been studying active shooter and mass attack events over the course of the past several years, commensurate with receiving training on response and recovery to natural disasters and civil disturbances. Joshua started to outline this series of articles in an attempt to identify commonalities and logistical needs patterns for response.
