911 calls show fear in mall shooting

When at least six shots rang out in the Westfield Annapolis food court on Nov. 18 — injuring two Annapolis teens and one off-duty Secret Service agent — at least a dozen witnesses called police and loved ones, and cried.

(Listen to a 911 call.)

(Listen to another 911 call.)

Those are just a few excerpts from 18 minutes and 49 seconds of 911 calls the county police released this morning following a Maryland Public Information Act request by The Capital.

“People are running around. People are upset,” said one caller about 10 minutes after the shooting. “The crime scene is (expletive) up.”

Police refused to release all of the calls received after the shooting, “due to the importance of those calls in the investigation of the incident.” Police also refused to release any surveillance footage of the fight.

The first call released was taken 16 seconds after 7:14 p.m. — about one minute after the shooting. It starts in the middle of a conversation with a female caller.

“We heard something that sounded like shots fired. People came running. People were yelling, ‘Get down. Get down,” the woman said.

That dispatcher asked her what she saw and how many shots she heard. After she said she didn’t really know anything else, he let her hang up.

“We’ve got units en route to you. If you hear anything or see anything else, let us know,” the call taker said.

Seconds later, though, another dispatcher can be heard over an open microphone: “There’s only one person that has called it in. ... OK, now we are getting called. Group of people fighting, then the gun went off.”

In each recording, call takers repeatedly ask callers if they saw the shooter, and if so, where he went. Each caller, however, says they just heard the shots or only see the secret service agent on the ground and bleeding.

“There was a fight that broke out. There was a bunch of shots fired,” said an employee of the Cingular Wireless store — located just feet from where the shooting occurred. “It’s hard to see. There is a big crowd.”

The triple shooting started when the off-duty agent tried to break up a fist fight between 16-year-old Tahzay Brown and his friends and 18-year-old Javaughn Norman Adams and his friend.

Mr. Adams allegedly pulled a gun and shot the agent in the leg, police said. The wounded agent returned fire, hitting Mr. Adams twice in the abdomen. Mr. Brown also was hit in the leg, although police don’t know if the agent or Mr. Adams shot him.

All three went to area hospitals, but were subsequently released.

Mr. Adams now is confined at the Jennifer Road Detention Center, charged with attempted first-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault, second-degree assault, and use of a handgun during a violent crime.

Many of the calls released today came second-hand, from family members safe at home worried about what was happening to their loved ones at the mall.

“My wife was at the Annapolis Mall. ... She’s there hysterical, that’s why I’m calling,” said one man.

“My daughter works at the Annapolis mall and I’m panicking,” said one mother, audibly frazzled.

Call takers tried to ease the callers fears, while still drilling them about what happened and if the shooter was still in the area.

“Ma’am, do not panic. The situation is under control.”

Several of the calls illustrate a common problem that occurs during most large-scale traumatic events: the 911 call center received so many calls at once the call takers couldn’t keep up.

“I’ve been trying to get through for three minutes straight,” said one caller about 7:17 p.m. — after hanging up and getting called back by a dispatcher.

“All I know is that shots were fired in the Annapolis mall food court,” the man said.