FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla._"I am in the Fort Lauderdale airport and somebody has a gun," the caller told a 911 dispatcher. "I don't know what's going on."
The call was part of a second batch of 911 recordings on the Jan. 6 mass shooting at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, released Thursday by the Broward Sheriff's Office.
One panicked call came from a woman with a group of passengers and airport workers crowded into the Jack Nicklaus Golden Bear Grill in Terminal 3.
"People are freaking out here, sir," the woman calling told the 911 dispatcher.
"Try to barricade yourself somewhere, OK?" the dispatcher said.
"Sir, I can't tell what a safe place to be is now," she said.
Authorities say the shooting, which claimed five lives, was carried out by Esteban Santiago, 26, of Anchorage, Alaska. He flew from Anchorage to Fort Lauderdale, with a stop in Minneapolis, to carry out the attack, authorities said. After picking up his gun case from the baggage carousel, he went to the restroom to load his pistol, emerged and started shooting, authorities said.
The 911 recordings did not include any from direct witnesses to the shooting in Terminal 2. Most of the 14 calls came from the other terminals, where unsubstantiated reports of gunshots led to panic, with people barricading themselves in restaurants, shops and offices, fleeing on jetways onto airplanes or onto the tarmac.
A female airport employee who was hiding in the bushes between Terminal 3 and 4 told a 911 dispatcher that she saw someone with a gun and heard a shot minutes later.
"Did you see the shooter?" the dispatcher asked.
"I saw him but I don't remember his face or anything," the woman replied. "I just saw a big gun."
A crying child called 911, saying her mother was in danger.
"My mom is at the Fort Lauderdale airport, and she just called me right now," the girl said. "But she's one of the people that works at the airport and they're shooting right exactly where she's at right now! There's a shooter right now and she just called me scared!"
The dispatcher asked her to stay on the line and assured her that police were on the way.
"She just texted me and told me baby there's shooting here," the child said.
"Send somebody there, please!" she said.
The dispatcher asked her for her mother's exact location and whether she could describe the shooter.
"I'm texting her right now. Oh my God," the girl said.
The dispatcher told her the police were there. But the girl remained fearful.
"She's not texting back though!" she yelled.
Santiago pleaded not guilty Monday to 22 federal charges and is being held at the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami.
The five killed were Mary Louise Amzibel, 69, of Dover, Del.; Michael John Oehme, 57, of Council Bluffs, Iowa; Olga M. Woltering, 84, of Marietta, Ga.; Shirley Wells Timmons, 70, of Senecaville, Ohio; and Terry Michael Andres, 62, of Virginia Beach, Va.
Santiago is due in federal court Friday morning in Miami for his first hearing with the trial judge assigned to his case. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom scheduled a tentative trial date of March 20, but that could be postponed, especially if prosecutors decide to seek the death penalty.
Most of the charges against Santiago carry a maximum penalty of life in federal prison or death. The final call on whether to seek death lies with the next U.S. attorney general, and the decision-making process can take months.
