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CNN Live At Daybreak
Look at 911 Tapes from Sniper Attacks
Aired November 20, 2002 - 05:10 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Turning our attention now to the sniper case, we're learning just how confusing the initial attacks were to witnesses.
CNN's Kathleen Koch has heard the 911 tapes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We heard a loud bang. It sounded like a gunshot.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The dramatic 911 tapes show the growing confusion and panic as the calls began pouring in that bright October morning. When the first victim, Sonny Buchanan, was shot at 7:41, some people thought his lawn mower had exploded.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's going on there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This guy's lawn mower did something, man. It chopped him up. He's bleeding real bad. He's down and out.
KOCH: About 30 minutes later, a few miles away, the 911 call from the next shooting of cab driver Prenkumar Walekar at a Mobile gas station. It was clear to that caller the man had been shot.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my god...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ma'am listen to me. What is wrong?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A man has been killed in front of me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How is he being killed in front of you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know.
KOCH: Just 15 minutes later, another call just nearby for a woman, Sara Ramos, spotted dead on a bench near Leisure World, a retirement community. Again, the caller didn't realize Ramos has been murdered.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I need an ambulance and police at Leisure World plaza at the end by the post office. A girl just shot herself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She just what?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She just shot herself, sitting on the bench here.
KOCH: Then at 9:58, the next shooting, again, just miles away. Lori Ann Lewis-Rivera killed at a gas station while vacuuming her van. Again, a stunned caller uncertain about what had happened.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, we need an ambulance at the corner of Knowles and Connecticut. A woman was vacuuming her car. Something blew up. She's unconscious. She's got blood coming out of her nose and her mouth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Knowles and where?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Knowles and Connecticut Avenue, across from Kensington...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was vacuuming her car and somebody blew up?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Something blew up or -- I have no idea. She's laying next to the vacuum cleaner but she's unconscious and blood's coming out of her nose and her mouth.
KOCH (on camera): Four killings in just over two hours. It would take time to understand what had happened and weeks to catch the suspects in the shooting spree that left 10 in the Washington, D.C. area dead and three wounded.
Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 20, 2002 - 05:10 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Turning our attention now to the sniper case, we're learning just how confusing the initial attacks were to witnesses.
CNN's Kathleen Koch has heard the 911 tapes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We heard a loud bang. It sounded like a gunshot.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The dramatic 911 tapes show the growing confusion and panic as the calls began pouring in that bright October morning. When the first victim, Sonny Buchanan, was shot at 7:41, some people thought his lawn mower had exploded.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's going on there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This guy's lawn mower did something, man. It chopped him up. He's bleeding real bad. He's down and out.
KOCH: About 30 minutes later, a few miles away, the 911 call from the next shooting of cab driver Prenkumar Walekar at a Mobile gas station. It was clear to that caller the man had been shot.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my god...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ma'am listen to me. What is wrong?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A man has been killed in front of me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How is he being killed in front of you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know.
KOCH: Just 15 minutes later, another call just nearby for a woman, Sara Ramos, spotted dead on a bench near Leisure World, a retirement community. Again, the caller didn't realize Ramos has been murdered.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I need an ambulance and police at Leisure World plaza at the end by the post office. A girl just shot herself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She just what?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She just shot herself, sitting on the bench here.
KOCH: Then at 9:58, the next shooting, again, just miles away. Lori Ann Lewis-Rivera killed at a gas station while vacuuming her van. Again, a stunned caller uncertain about what had happened.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, we need an ambulance at the corner of Knowles and Connecticut. A woman was vacuuming her car. Something blew up. She's unconscious. She's got blood coming out of her nose and her mouth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Knowles and where?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Knowles and Connecticut Avenue, across from Kensington...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was vacuuming her car and somebody blew up?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Something blew up or -- I have no idea. She's laying next to the vacuum cleaner but she's unconscious and blood's coming out of her nose and her mouth.
KOCH (on camera): Four killings in just over two hours. It would take time to understand what had happened and weeks to catch the suspects in the shooting spree that left 10 in the Washington, D.C. area dead and three wounded.
Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
