Page 34 of Tommy Gabrini: All Fall Down
“Ron?” Tommy, who was known as Mister Cool, remained that way, except he elevated his voice to get the chief’s attention. The chief looked in his direction. “I need to speak with you,” Tommy said firmly.
“Ah, let me call you back,” Chief Browne said over the phone, hung up, and then motioned for Tommy to follow him to a room in the back. He closed the door behind them.
Reno was about to follow them since he was unaccustomed to being out of the loop, but Grace pulled him back. “Let Tommy handle it, Reno. Since he used to be a cop himself, maybe they’ll tell him something if it’s just him.”
Since that made sense to Reno too, he stayed where he was. Then he shook his head. “I still can’t wrap my brain around this, Grace,” he said. “Excuse my French, but this batshit crazy to me. They think TJ killed his fellow students and terrorized his school? How could they even think that? This can’t be happening.”
“I know,” she said as the tears returned. “It can’t be true. It just can’t be.”
Reno pulled her into his arms and Trina hurried over and rubbed her back. All three were just beyond devastation.
But over in that backroom, Chief Browne was telling Tommy all he knew. More than he could ever tell Grace. “He shot nearly a hundred students,” he said.
Tommy was floored. “Ahundred? The press said less than twenty had been wounded.”
“That’s what we’re telling them.”
“Lord have mercy!” Tommy said. “Are there any deaths? The media doesn’t seem to know that either.”
The chief nodded his head. “It was eighteen. Now it’s up to at least thirty-eight confirmed deceased.”
“God no!” Tommy began moving around. He was anguished. “And they think my child kill thirty-eight children?”
“That’s what they’re saying, yes.”
“But that kind of precision is professional,” said Tommy. “There’s no way TJ is in that category.”
“You sure about that?”
“Of course I’m sure!” Tommy yelled out. Then he looked at the chief. “What else aren’t you telling me, Ron?”
Ron cleared his throat. “A few of those dead students are from friendly fire unfortunately.”
Tommy, the former police captain, frowned. “Friendly fire? What happened?”
“I gave the order for SWAT to go through the roof of the school to get into the classroom where we could only estimate where the hostages are. The plan was for them to take out the shooter only.”
Tommy’s heart dropped. “To take out my son since that’s who you claim is the shooter? Is that what you mean? But you told my wife he was unharmed.”
“He is.”
“Then what are you talking about? Did you or did you not give the order to kill my son?”
The chief nodded. “Yes, I did. And believe me when I tell you it was the toughest order I’ve ever had to give, Tommy. But what choice did I have? If you were in command you would have ordered it too.”
Tommy exhaled. He felt as if he was going to have a heart attack. “Go on,” he said.
“They fired nearly fifty rounds thinking they were taking out the shooter, but that wasn’t the case.”
“Who did they take out?”
“They had entered the wrong classroom,” the chief said.
Tommy was as relieved as he was horrified. “The wrong classroom? You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“They entered through the roof of the wrong classroom and shot the wrong guy and other students who were trying to protect him got shot too. It’s like a horror movie, Tommy. In all, five people were shot and killed.”
“By your men?”
