Police have released chilling recordings of phone calls made to police from inside a Nashville school where six people, including three children, were shot dead.
Mass-shooter Audrey Hale, 28, killed Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney, all aged nine, in the sickening attack last Monday at the Covenant School.
Cynthia Peak, 61, a substitute teacher, Mike Hill, 61, a janitor, and Katherine Koonce, 60, who was the head of the school, were all also killed in the horror.
The carnage was brought to an end when police shot the assailant, a 28-year-old former pupil.
She had been armed with two assault rifles and a handgun.
Police have now released 911 calls from inside the small school.
They include the voices of teachers and school officials, some whispering while hiding in classrooms, closets, bathrooms and offices, as alarms rang loudly.
Many pleaded for help in hushed voices while sirens, crying and gunfire can be heard in the background.
In one call, retired church member Tom Pulliam, 76, tells the dispatcher he is with a group, including several children, walking away from the Christian school.
Although he remains calm, the tension and confusion of the situation are clear, with several adults speaking over each other and children's voices in the background.
When the dispatcher requests a description of the shooter, Pulliam asks a second man to get on the line.
He said: "All I saw was a man holding an assault rifle shooting through the door.
“It was - he's currently in the second grade hallway, upstairs.”
When asked about gunshots he added, "I heard about 10, and I left the building."
In another call a teacher tells an operator she is with 17 children in a classroom and hearing "so many shots”.
In another call made just before 10:13am a woman tells a dispatcher she can hear a pause in the gunshots from her hiding spot in an art room closet.
Asked if it is a safe spot, the woman answers, "I think so," as children can be heard in the background.
She later said: “Please hurry.”
In another call lead pastor Chad Scruggs, whose daughter was tragically killed in the attack, tells the operator he's outside the building and heading toward the gunshots.
He added: "I'm getting calls from the inside.”
In the wake of the shooting police searched the killer's house and found a detailed map of the school, including potential entry points, and evidence clearly done surveillance before the shooting.
Cops also described Hale as a "lone zealot", who had written a manifesto ahead of the attack.
Authorities say the attack ended when police shot and killed the assailant.
The release of the recordings came as protesters gathered at the Tennessee Capitol to demand the Republican-led Legislature tighten gun controls.
Chants of "Save our children!" echoed in the hallways between the Senate and House chambers, with protesters setting up inside and outside the building.
Some silently filled the Senate chamber's gallery, including children who held signs reading "I'm nine" - a reference to the age of the kids who died. Most protesters were removed from the gallery after some began yelling down at the lawmakers, "Children are dead!"
Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief John Drake has not said what investigators think the shooter's motive was, only noting that the assailant didn't target specific victims and had "some resentment for having to go to that school."
