VANCOUVER, Wash. (KOIN) — Newly obtained police dispatch traffic shows the massive response to the report of a shooting at the Smith Towers apartments in Vancouver Thursday afternoon.
The recordings of roughly the first 15 minutes of the incident were obtained by KOIN 6 courtesy of Broadcastify.com.
“Dispatcher, on that Smith Tower call,” said one voice. “Sounds like you’re going to have multiple patients—reports of about 3 people shot.”
A automated dispatcher can be heard calling fire engines out to the scene at 515 Washington Street. A few minutes later, a person can be heard calling out to crews to stage fire units a few blocks away from the apartment building.
“Battalion 1, they do have 3 people down in the lobby,” said a dispatcher to a fire crew. “They are securing that now. They haven’t brought them out yet.”
“As soon as they send Code 4 and we’ll send the rescue units in.”
A few minutes later: “Shooter is still active. Shooter is still active. They are still searching for them.”
Roughly an hour after this recording ended, authorities announced they had arrested one suspect and one of the three victims had died.
Local radio on the air
Vancouver radio station KXRW 99.9FM was broadcasting during the active shooter situation in the downtown area when they received a call from a woman who was inside the building. KXRW’s offices are inside the building that is across the street from the Smith Tower Apartments.
The Smith Tower resident said she heard a man yelling in the hallway while she was inside her apartment. She called the radio station while the building was still in lock-down to discuss what she heard and what it was like to have a SWAT team knock on her door.
That conversation can be heard below, courtesy XRAY.FM: