Meet Sam, the FBI’s resident bomb expert in New Haven. He responded to the scene of a shooting, tasked with checking for explosives. Because nothing screams “explosives” like a school shooting.
Jeff and Sam have been buds for ages, having met at co-agency explosives and post-blast training sessions. They’ve even worked together before, and Sam even had Jeff’s team deputized for a domestic terrorism case. Talk about a wild ride!
Sam spent most of his time fending off nosy cops and lawyers, keeping them from seeing things that would haunt them forever. It’s probably safe to say that he was the most popular guy in the precinct.
After 9/11, Sam’s work took him to Iraq, where he had to collect DNA from the bombing sites. He picked limbs from trees and defused homemade explosives. But nothing prepared him for the horrors he saw at that elementary school in Connecticut.
Jeff was determined to keep the crime scene as private as possible, so he and Sam were the only ones allowed to bring phones inside. They spent long hours at the crime scene, working tirelessly to uncover evidence that would lead to answers.
Sam even called in a favor to make sure the school was on the attorney general’s itinerary. Jeff quickly jumped on board, secretly thrilled to show off his hard work.
But the process of cleaning jewelry to return it to families was just the beginning. Over the course of those long, excruciating days, Sam and Jeff went through the rooms at the school 26 times. “Same procedures. Same four overall photos of each room. Same medium shots…” it became a mantra.
The crew faced one obstacle after another, including a pesky medical examiner who showed up and told them not to waste their time taking photographs of the scene.
With constant interruptions from various law enforcement officials, Sam and Jeff were pushed to the brink of exhaustion. They had to change in and out of their protective gear over and over again, all while being forced to witness the heartbreaking remnants of the young lives that had been lost. It was a nightmare come to life.
Serious News: nytimes
