floor to investigate employees' reports of an armed intruder on this floor. Immediately prior to encountering Essex, Schneider and a porter named Donald Roberts had exited an elevator before a hysterical black maid named Beatrice Greenhouse attempted to warn the two men of the intruder's intentions. As both turned to run, Essex raised his rifle and fatally shot Schneider in the back of the head; Roberts reached the safety of a nearby stairwell. He ran to a payphone and notified police. Essex then ignited another fire on the 11th floor before descending to the 10th floor, where he encountered the hotel's general manager, Walter Collins, attempting to warn guests about the spreading fires. Essex shot and fatally wounded Collins, who shouted to a guest to shut her door and call the police. Collins then crawled to a stairwell. He would die of his injuries on January 26. Police response Shortly after 11 a.m., two young patrolmen named Michael Burl and Robert Childress arrived at the hotel in response to initial reports of an armed individual roaming the premises. The two began an ascending floor-to-floor search. On one of the lower floors, they encountered Beatrice Greenhouse, who informed them the perpetrator was on one of the upper floors. In an error of judgment, the two ascended to the 18th floor in an elevator, which halted close to the top floor due to smoke in the elevator shaft. At about the same time, Essex shot 43-year-old hotel guest and broadcasting executive Robert Beamish in the stomach as he walked close to the eighth-floor swimming plaza. Beamish fell into the swimming pool, but he realized he was not badly hurt. He remained in the water for almost two hours before he was rescued. By 11:20 a.m. scores of police officers and firefighters had converged at the hotel, and Superintendent Giarrusso had established a command post on the ground floor of the hotel. Giarrusso ordered marksmen deployed at various strategic positions around the hotel. Within the hour, he ordered a room-by-room search for the perpetrator. Several firefighters attempted to rescue guests who had fled to the hotel balconies to escape both the gunman and the numerous fires he had started; efforts to rescue these individuals were hampered both by Essex pinning down emergency responders to the scene with his firearm, and conflicting descriptions as to his height and clothing which led responders to believe