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Sniper 911 calls: 'A man has been killed in front of me!'
ROCKVILLE, Maryland (CNN) -- The first victims of the sniper attacks in the Washington area in early October were originally thought to have been injured by explosions, a lawn mower breaking apart or a suicide, according to recordings of 911 calls of the incidents. The recordings highlight a string of attacks linked to two suspects -- John Allen Muhammad, 41, and John Lee Malvo, 17. Police captured them October 24 as they slept in their car at a Maryland rest stop. They face charges in several states, most of which carry the death penalty upon conviction. Authorities also have linked the two to earlier shootings as early as September in Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana. The newly released calls capture the panic, fear and confusion the shootings caused. "We need an ambulance ... a woman was vacuuming her car, something blew up, she's unconscious, she's got blood coming out of her nose and her mouth," a female caller told a fire and rescue dispatcher in Montgomery County on October 3 at 9:58 a.m. "Something blew up?" the dispatcher asked. "I heard this huge, loud noise, like a bomb ... but it wasn't a bomb. It was like that kind of noise," the caller said. "Did it sound like a gunshot, maybe?" the dispatcher asked. "Kinda, kinda," the woman said. An ambulance crew arrived at the Shell gas station in Kensington to find Lori Ann Lewis-Rivera, 25, dead of a gunshot wound. It was the fifth in a string of six shootings in Montgomery County, Maryland, and Washington in a period of 27 hours. 'A man just fell'The first victim in that spree was felled in the parking lot of a Shoppers Food Warehouse in Wheaton, Maryland, the night before. "A man just fell in the parking lot, there was a loud noise but we're not sure if he was shot," a woman caller told the dispatcher at 6:05 p.m. "Is he bleeding?" the dispatcher asked the woman. "Yes," she said, before hanging up as police arrived on the scene. Early the next morning, at least two people called when James Buchanan, 39, was found bleeding on the ground near a car dealership where he regularly mowed the lawn. "This guy with a lawn mower did something, man, it chopped him up, he's bleeding real bad, he's down and out," a male caller told a dispatcher at 7:41 a.m. "Is that the supposed shooting on Rockville Pike?" the dispatcher asked, referring to other calls about the incident. "Yeah, I thought it was a shooting, we heard a loud bang, sounded like a gunshot," the caller said. 'Killed in front of me!'Thirty-one minutes later, a woman called 911, almost unintelligible in her panic. "Oh, my God! A man is dead on Aspen Hill Road ... we need an ambulance! Oh, my God!" she screamed before she began sobbing. "Ma'am, ma'am, listen to me! What is wrong?" the dispatcher yelled. "A man has been killed in front of me!" she cried. "How is he being killed in front of you?" the dispatcher asked. "He was shot! I don't know," she said. "Ma'am, how do you not know?" the dispatcher asked. The woman broke off the call to talk to a police officer who had just arrived at the Exxon gas station in Aspen Hill. Taxi driver Prem Kumar Walekar, 54, had been killed while filling his minivan with gas. 'I heard a big bang'Then, at 8:37 a.m., calls began to come in about a shooting in Silver Spring. "I need an ambulance and police at Leisure World Plaza, at the end by the post office, a girl just shot herself, sitting on the bench there," said an elderly man, breathing heavily. "She just shot herself?" the dispatcher asked. "Yes, hurry!" the man said. "I was putting the letter in the mailbox, and I heard a big bang, I couldn't figure out where it was coming from ... and then I looked over there to the left and there this girl, who was sitting there when I came in, she was all falled (sic) over and bleeding," the man said, shaken. Another man called in with the same report. "There's a lady that's sitting on the park bench, she's not moving ... she's bleeding from the head and she's not moving," the man said. "Do you see any weapons there?" the dispatcher asked him. "No, just a purse," he answered. The dispatcher then asked to talk to a security guard on the scene. "We had reports that she shot herself," the dispatcher said. "It could be, it's around that area ... without moving her head ... I don't see a weapon," the security guard responded. "Is anyone going to do CPR?" the dispatcher asked. "Uh ... probably not," he told the dispatcher. The victim was Sarah Ramos, 34.
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