911 tapes describe ConAgra shooting

? The first call came from a security guard, telling emergency dispatchers that a gunman was loose in the ConAgra Foods Inc. plant here.

“I am in the building upstairs. I just had gunshots,” Glenn Mengel, of Kansas City, Kan., said between panting breaths on July 2. “I noticed a man firing some type of weapon.”

The man was employee Elijah Brown, 21, who police have since said was armed with two handguns and apparently angry over teasing from co-workers.

For the next half-hour, dispatchers fielded a flood of calls — some calm, some frantic — from others in the plant, describing the carnage as Brown fatally shot five people and wounded two, then killed himself.

Police on Tuesday released some of the 911 tapes describing what went on during the worst workplace shooting in the metropolitan area’s history.

During Mengel’s call, two gunshots can be heard. On other calls, voices can be heard screaming and cursing.

“Hello,” one woman said against a backdrop of shouting. “We need the police here. … We got some guy shooting people.”

Dispatchers told the woman that police and ambulances were on their way, to which the woman responded, “OK. Hurry up, please.”

Mengel’s phone call lasted more than two minutes, during which he described Brown’s movements.

“I got a glimpse of him,” Mengel said. “It looked like the cafeteria area cleared out in a hurry. But people went under the tables.”

Other callers expressed frustration with police.

“Hi, we just called and the police are going back and forth, but they are not finding our place,” a woman said. “We need an ambulance.”

The dispatcher then told her help was on the way.

On one call, a man said the shooter’s name was Elijah. “I don’t know what his last name is,” the man said.

Police Capt. Michael Kobe said Mendel’s call came in at 5:12 p.m. with units being dispatched two minutes later. Units arrived at the plant at 5:17 p.m.

Kobe added that the police investigation into the shootings was essentially done.