SPOKANE, Wash. — Warning: This story contains descriptions of the events that took place on the day of the Freeman shooting and may be disturbing to some. Reader discretion is advised.
During Monday's hearing in the trial of the Freeman High School shooting that occurred in 2017, a victim impact statement was read by a victim advocate from the Freeman custodian. The custodian confronted and detained the shooter until police arrived more than four years ago.
In his statement, Joe Bowen described his morning as a typical one. His statement said he arrived at the school at 6 a.m. on Sept. 13, 2017. He then proceeded to begin cleaning around the school as he did every day.
At 10:07 a.m., Bowen wrote that he heard several pops while fixing something in one of the restrooms. After the pops, he recalled his immediate thoughts: that a student had brought firecrackers into the building or a science teacher had made some kind of explosion in their classroom.
After the first round of pops, Bowen said he heard another three to four pops followed by the sound of a young girl screaming.
It was at that moment that Bowen exited the restroom he was working in. He recalled the only thing he had with him was a leatherman, a brand of multi-tool, that opened into a regular screwdriver.
"Upon entering the hallway, I immediately come eye-to-eye with Caleb Sharpe, standing approximately 10 feet away from me on the opposite side of the hallway nearest the blue gymnasium," Bowen's statement said.
Bowen's statement continued to say he immediately "surveyed the scenario" while looking at the shooter, who he said had no expression on his face. Bowen then looked down the hallway at a group of students and noticed the air was filled with white smoke.
At that moment, Bowen said he knew this was a shooting.
"I immediately point my leatherman at Caleb Sharpe and say 'Get on the ground,'" Bowen's statement said. "[He] just stares at me. I again immediately point my leatherman at [the shooter] and say 'Get on the effing ground right now.'"
After this confrontation, Bowen recalled the shooter removing his hat from his head, raising both hands and lowering himself to the ground. Bowen then approached the shooter and held him down with his knee.
Bowen then told the shooter not to move.
At that moment, Bowen recalled looking up and seeing Mr. Hayes, one of the school's science teachers, helping one of the injured victims. The school physical education teacher approached Bowen and asked him if he was okay.
"I asked him, 'What the hell is going on?' still in disbelief," Bowen's statement said. "He replied, 'I don't know,' and again asked 'Are you okay?' I said, 'I guess so.'"
While still restraining the shooter, Bowen recalled looking down the hall where the injured victim was and saw Hayes assisting her and trying to calm down the other victims. He said the science teacher yelled out for someone to call 9-1-1 because the victim needed help. Bowen offered his cell phone, but the teacher then ran in the opposite direction to find a landline.
Several minutes later, Bowen saw a Sheriff's deputy approaching with his weapon drawn. The deputy called out to Bowen, to which he replied, "I have him. I have the shooter."
Bowen then told the deputy to cuff the shooter. Once he was placed in handcuffs, the deputy took over for Bowen as he headed down the hallway toward Hayes and the injured students.
When he reached the teacher and the victims, Bowen said he verbalized seeing a pistol on the ground. Hayes then told him there was a rifle in his classroom with his students.
Bowen entered the classroom and immediately saw an AR-15 lying across the floor. He recalled students clinging to the walls of the classroom in a panic.
Because Bowen did not want to be mistaken for the shooter by other officers and did not want to potentially interfere with any fingerprints left on the weapon, he said he grabbed his leatherman tool, placed the handles through the stock and removed the weapon from the classroom.
He then entered the hallway and verbalized that he had both weapons secured. Bowen carried the AR-15 with the leatherman tool and moved the pistol along the floor with his foot, ultimately giving them to the responding officers.
Once the weapons were with officers, Bowen said he went back to where Hayes and the other victims were in order to help. He said Hayes had calmed down one of the victims and had somewhat controlled their injuries.
"Next I asked Mr. Hayes about the victim just beyond him, with him simply shaking his head and saying, 'He didn't make it,'" Bowen's statement said.
Bowen said he and Hayes then heard of another victim in another classroom. The two men made their way to the room and saw several people helping the student. Shortly after, emergency medical services (EMS) arrived and assisted the injured students.
After EMS arrived, another classroom opened its door. Bowen recalled someone calling out for help and stating another student in that classroom had been injured. When Bowen entered the classroom, he saw the injured student sitting near the teacher's desk. He said other students were using tape to apply pressure to the victim's wound.
EMS eventually located all three injured students and transported them to the hospital.
"After the events took place, Mr. Sharpe looked at me with a blank stare on his face, " Bowen said in his statement. "He showed no remorse, no reaction, no emotion for what he had just done."
Bowen continued to say it was obvious that the shooter had premeditated the event. He said the shooter picked out his weapons, gathered ammunition and planned his entry into the school where no one would see him.
According to Bowen, the shooter went as far as to shave his head and cover it with a black hat. Bowen said he noticed this when the shooter removed his hat during their initial confrontation.
"Why would someone do these actions and then, in the end, just have a blank stare?" Bowen's statement said. "He took a fellow classmate's life, left three other classmates with permanent scars and countless others with emotional scars and mental scars that will never heal."
Bowen closed his statement by saying the staff, students and community of Freeman will always be scarred from the damage the shooter inflicted on that day.
"It is my belief there is nothing that can undo what has been done and there is no sentence that can be issued to outweigh the damage that has been inflicted on this community," Bowen's statement said. "Mr. Sharpe has single-handedly destroyed any sense of safety and security amongst the students and staff of Freeman High School."