Personal accounts of the events relate the initial confusion during the incident, describing the sound of the shots as "like firecrackers". Panic followed as people began to realize what was happening. Witnesses also describe Williams as "smiling" during the shooting. Referring to the chaos after the shooting, one parent remarked, "They just don't have a system to handle this." Students and faculty were evacuated to a nearby shopping center, and local businesses and churches helped to handle students and parents. Others also said that they heard him saying, weeks before the shootings, that he was "going to pull a Columbine".