Kaitlin Roig
Sandy Hook

[Sandy Hook teacher]

Cynthia McFadden (reporter/anchor? CBS): Far too many lives were lost today at the elementary school here in Connecticut. It is impossible to know how many children were saved by the courageous actions under fire by the Sandy Hook Elementary teachers and staff. The stories of heroism are only beginning to unfold and ABC news anchor Dianne Sawyer met one young teacher with an extraordinary (emphasis talkers') story.

[all this was read off a teleprompter or cue cards judging by the way Cynthia looks to the left at the beginning of the report]

Kaitlin Roig (Teacher, 1st grade, Sandy Hook Elementary School): I knew it was shooting immediately

Dianne Sawyer: (interrupts) It was just repetitive sounds.

Kaitlin: Yep, it sounded like a, um, a type of gun that just shoots over and over and over again. [cut] I just told all of my students to get into the bathroom. It was all I could think of. I put one of my students on top of the toilet dispens[er] I just knew we had to get in there. I was just telling them it's going to be ok, you're going to be alright. I had pulled a bookshelf before I closed the door in front of it, so it was completely - we were completely barricaded in. [pause assumed] I turned the lights out.


Dianne: Did you tell them to be quiet? Did you..
Kaitlin: (talks over Dianne) oh yes

Dianne: ...worry about one of them shouting.

Kaitlin: no I told them, I told them to be quiet, I told them we had to be absolutely quiet. Because I was just so afraid that if he did come in and then he would hear us and then he would maybe just start shooting the door. So I said no we just have to be absolutely quiet now. Um and I said there are bad guys out there now we need to wait for the good guys they're coming to get us and I.. I... I just wanted us to be ok and I am so, so saddened that there are people in this situation that are not ok. Um, and my heart goes out to anyone who knew them and was part of their lives I, I just can't imagine... (trails off)

Dianne: Did they cry?

Kaitlin: Na  if they started crying I would like take their face and say "it's going to be ok, show me your smile" like I really tried to like huh you know and one of my students would say things like "I know Karate so it's ok I'll lead the way out"


[cut]

Dianne: They really said to you we want to go home for Christmas?

Kaitlin: oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.... ahim... yup  . "I just want to hug my Mom", just you know things like that were just (sniff) heartbreaking you know and like in my you know cause you're hearing I mean, I've never been part of something honestly anywhere near something this traumatic, um and so I'm hearing the gun fire in the hallway and I'm thinking in my mind 'I'm the first classroom, why isn't he coming' you know I'm thinking 'We're next' and you know and in my mind I'm think 'As a six year old, seven year old what are you, what are your thoughts, [no real pause] what are your you know and I'm thinking that 'I have to almost be their parent' like 'I have to tell them' you know. So I said to them, I said "I need you to know that I love you all very much and that it's going to be ok" cause I thought 'that's the last thing they were ever going to hear,' I thought we were all going to die. Um and you know I don't know if that's ok, you know teachers and um, but I wanted them to know that someone loved them and I wanted them that to be one of the last things they heard. Um ah, not the gunfire in the hallway (whimper) it's just so horrible, horrible, horrible, um...

[cut]

Dianne: How did you know you were going to be ok? (interrupted)

Kaitin: I didn't

Dianne: What happened?

Kaitlin: Um, what finally happened was the gunfire stopped. The gunfire wasn't that long, um, so that stopped but I said "No, we're not going anywhere, we're staying um, until someone good comes in [cut] (sneeze) until someone good gets us out, so what happened was, the police came and started knocking, um and um obviously I was completely beside myself (sniff) and I said "I, I don't believe you, um you need to put your badges under the door, um (sniff) so I, they put their badges (sniff) under the door. I said "if you're really a police officer you would have a way to get in here, you would have a key, you would have gotten it from the janitor if everything was ok now, you would have found the keys, so he had the keys and he found the right one and he unlocked the door and then they brought us out to the firehouse with the rest of the teachers and students waiting for parents to come and pick them up (sigh) huh...

Dianne: I think there are a lot of people who wish, that want all the teachers to know how much it means to them how much they care about their children.

Kaitlin: hmm hmm. How could you not? (nodding her head in unison with Dianne)

Dianne: Thankyou

Kaitlin: Thankyou http://cluesforum.info