MANCHESTER, Conn. Dispatcher: State police.
Thornton: Is this 911?
Dispatcher: Yeah, can I help you?
Thornton: This is Omar Thornton, the uh, the shooter over in
Manchester.
Dispatcher: Yes, where are you, sir?
Thornton: I'm in the building. Uh, you probably want to know the
reason why I shot this place up. This place right here is a racist
place.
Dispatcher: Yup, I understand that.
Thornton: They're treating me bad over here. And treat all other
black employees bad over here, too. So I took it to my own hands
and handled the problem. I wish I could have got more of the
people.
Dispatcher: Yeah. Are you armed, sir? Do you have a weapon with
you?
Thornton: Oh yeah, I'm armed.
Dispatcher: How many guns do have with you?
Thornton: I got one now. There's one out, one out in the uh, in
the uh, factory there.
Dispatcher: Yep. OK, sir.
Thornton: I'm not going to kill nobody else though.
Dispatcher: Yeah. We're going to have to have you surrender
yourself somehow here and not make the situation any worse. You
know what I mean?
Thornton: These cops are going to kill me.
Dispatcher: No, they're not. We're just going to have to get you
to relax ...
Thornton: I'm relaxed. I'm calmed down.
Dispatcher: ... to have you, you know, turn yourself over.
Thornton: (Unintelligible) I hear the cops are already in there.
Make sure you say the right thing. Hey, the SWAT team just rolled
by in Army gear. They don't know where I'm at. But I don't know,
maybe you can trace this from this phone call. But yeah, these
people here are crazy. And they treat me bad from when I started
here. Racist company. Treat me bad. I'm the only black they've
already got here. They treat me bad over here, treat me bad all the
time.
Dispatcher: It's a horrible situation, I understand that.
Thornton: Hey don't try to calm me down. I'm already calmed
down. I'm not going to kill nobody else. I just want to tell my
story to you, so you can play it back anyway.
Dispatcher: OK. You're going to help me get you out of the
building, OK?
Thornton: Alright. I'm good. (Unintellgible) I got that taken
care of. I don't need anyone to talk me into getting out of the
building.
Dispatcher: Where in the building are you?
Thornton: I'm not going to tell you that. When they find me
that's when everything is going to be over.
Dispatcher: Yeah. Where are you located? Are you up in the
offices?
Thornton: When they find me everything will be alright.
(Expletive) Manchester itself is a racist place.
Dispatcher: Yeah. Now, um, what time did you get there today?
Thornton: About 7 o'clock.
Dispatcher: This morning?
Thornton: Yeah, about 7 a.m. Yeah, they told me to come early
today.
Dispatcher: What kind of weapon do you have?
Thornton: I got a Ruger SR9.
Dispatcher: A Ruger? SR9?
Thornton: Automatic, yeah.
Dispatcher: Is it a rifle?
Thornton: Nah, it's a pistol. (Unintelligible) are two of my
favorites.
Dispatcher: Now, uh, you're going to make, uh, the troopers and
the people come in and, uh, catch you? You're not going to
surrender yourself?
Thornton: Well, I guess maybe on Thursday. Nah! They're coming
to get me. They gotta come get me.
Dispatcher: Yeah, we wouldn't want to do it like that, Omar. You
know, it's already been a bad enough scene this morning. We want
you to relax.
Thornton: I'm relaxed. I'm calmed down.
Dispatcher: We don't want any more, any more, uh, people, you
know, to lose their life here.
Thornton: I'm not going to kill nobody else.
Dispatcher: OK.
Thornton: I'm not coming out of where I'm at. I'm not coming
out. They have to find me. Probably bring some dogs, or whatever, I
don't know what they do.
Dispatcher: How much ammunition do you have with you?
Thornton: I got, uh, a lot of shots left. Uh-oh.
Dispatcher: What's that?
Thornton: It's alright. I guess this is (unintelligible) where I
have to take care of business. Tell my people I love them and I got
to go now.
Dispatcher: Omar, I really want you to help me stop this
situation, OK?
Thornton: OK.
Dispatcher: If you work with me we'll get this to stop, OK?
Omar. Ooh! Omar. Omar. OK, he's still alive.
Transcript of 911 call from Conn. shooter
By abc7NY
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