Kathy Walker

Kathy Walker was the news director for 850 KOA radio, the first station to break the news about the shooting at Columbine High School. You can hear clips of this breaking audio in Episode 8 of We Interrupt This Broadcast with Brian Williams.

According to Walker in the broadcast linked above, on the day of the Columbine shooting, Walker and her colleagues heard police being dispatched to Columbine High School over their police scanners. According to Walker, almost immediately, the began getting calls from parents asking what was happening. As the news crew listened to the scanners, they heard the police response toward Columbine High School.

Within 20 minutes of learning about the shooting, Walker got ahold of Steve Davis, who confirmed the shooting was taking place. She believes she was one of the first people to get confirmation of the shooting.

One of the earliest broadcasts about the shooting over the radio on 850 KOA:

"Once again, that's Steve Davis with the Jeffco Sheriff's Department, there have been reports that  the suspect had guns and grenade launchers and that some students are hurt. Jeffco SWAT teams are en route to the scene as are 850 KOA's Jerry Bell and 850 KOA's Amani Ali."

When Bell and Ali reported to the school, Amani went to the North side and Jerry went to the South side. The South side was blocked off, so Bell followed everyone into Leawood Park just North of the school, hopping people's backyard fences to get there.