911 tapes show police first feared 2 gunmen

NEWTOWN, Conn. — In the frantic moments after a gunman stormed into Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday and gunned down 26 people, most of them children, authorities expected to encounter a second shooter as they converged on the building, according to a recording of a 911 tape that was independently verified by Hearst Connecticut Newspapers on Tuesday.

“I have reports of two shooters running past the building, past the gym, which would be rear ...,” a dispatcher said on the tape, before trailing off. Shortly afterward, the operator told a state police trooper who was racing to the scene from the nearby Troop A barracks in Southbury, Conn., to “make sure you have your vest on.”

A review of the recording suggests that authorities were unaware of the grisly scene they were walking into.

Confusion reigned among authorities as SWAT team members and other officers swept the building for several hours, triggering a wave of erroneous media reports.

At one point, several major news outlets, including CNN, Fox News and The Associated Press, were reporting that the shooter was Ryan Lanza, 24, citing a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation. A number of news outlets also raised the possibility that there was a second gunman.

Investigators cast a dragnet over the town and neighboring communities to try to catch the phantom gunman.

By the end of the day Friday, investigators said that they were confident that the suspected shooter was Ryan Lanza’s 20-year-old brother, Adam, and that he had acted alone.