A group of town leaders even met recently with a police supervisor to ask for more officers on their streets.

But police supervisors on the scene estimated the number to be 7,000.

The investigation is also focusing on the roles of police supervisors, the official said.

The police supervisor said that if help had been summoned just after the shooting, the girl might have survived.

A lack of seasoned commanders means that some towns have no police supervisors.

"The circumstances point toward them, but the reality of it is that it's a hard case to prove," a police supervisor said.

After telling his story to investigators, he said, a police supervisor told him, "It didn't happen that way."

They said police supervisors at the scene had provoked the scuffling.

Is that what we say to the family of a police supervisor who may be seriously injured or even murdered?

On the radio, police supervisors were recommending alternate courses of action.