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
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