Antoinette Tuff’s 911 Call

Antoinette Tuff is the elementary school bookkeeper in Georgia who prevented a mass shooting on Tuesday by talking down the gunman for an hour. In the audio of her 911 call, her kindness is so palpable and powerful that it might make you cry:

[to the 911 operator] He says he should’ve just gone to the mental hospital instead of doing this. [to the gunman] I can help you. Want me to talk to them? Let me talk to them… Let me see if we can work it out so you don’t have to go away with them for a long time. No, it does matter. I can let them know that you are not trying to harm, that you didn’t do anything with me. You didn’t kill anybody. [to 911] Let me ask you this, ma’am. He didn’t hit anybody, he just shot outside the door. If I walk out there with him so they won’t shoot him or anything… He wants to give himself up, is that okay? They won’t shoot him?