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‘Body armor on’: Listen to calls from first responders at Kroger shooting

COLLIERVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 23: A police officer walks towards the parking lot of the Kroger where a shooting occurred on September 23, 2021 in Collierville, Tennessee. The Kroger is where authorities said that a gunman had apparently killed himself after opening fire inside of the store and killing one person and injuring 12 others. (Photo by Brad Vest/Getty Images)

COLLIERVILLE, Tenn. (WREG) — Recorded radio traffic captured first responders’ requests for help after arriving at the scene of a deadly, mass shooting at a Kroger in Collierville, Tennessee Thursday afternoon.

“Contact every agency for mutual aid,” a firefighter says to a dispatcher. He asked her to send police aid but specified “with your body armor on.”


https://www.wreg.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2021/09/Collierville-fire-department-radio-transmission-Kroger.mp3

A dispatcher tells him that the rear entrance is secure, but multiple parties are down.

“Let me know about some aid units, I need more ambulances,” the firefighter tells the dispatcher. She replies that Shelby County and Germantown were sending units, and she would contact Memphis.

Most of the activity is in the first four minutes of the call.

Multiple people were injured Thursday in a shooting inside the Kroger on Byhalia and Poplar Avenue in Collierville, a Memphis suburb.

Collierville Police Chief Dale Lane confirmed 13 people were shot, and one person killed. The suspected shooter also is dead, possibly from a self-inflicted gunshot, Lane said.

Lane said officers entered the store just after 1:30 p.m. and found multiple people shot, and employees in hiding. He could not comment on whether the shooter was an employee, saying it was under investigation.