She struggled to get her shoes and keys and pushed her dog down the stairs and toward an exit. Once outside, everything fell into place.
“Oh my God!” she said. “We can’t be here … I think it’s an explosion!” she said.
Elsewhere, a man reported what he saw through a window in his 15th floor apartment.
“There was just a huge explosion of shit in the center of the city, like a huge fireball,” the man told a 911 operator. “I just shook all the windows.”
Calls to 911 reveal panic and confusion over several events that morning, including reports of gunfire that took the police there an hour before the explosion, and a computerized female loudspeaker from the RV, warning that it would explode soon.
Here is a glimpse of how people in the area processed what was going on.
‘Shots inside the building’
Several hours later, residents were calling 911 to report that they had heard a series of shots, minutes apart.
On a call before 5:30 am, a man told a dispatcher in a low voice that he thought shots were coming from somewhere inside his four-story building on 2nd Avenue North
“There were three firearm shots inside the building,” he said urgently, but trying to keep his voice low. “First, about seven or eight minutes ago, and then again about five minutes ago.”
He said he would not like to meet the police outside, because he was convinced that the danger was right there.
“They’re in the building,” he almost whispered, referring to the shots or who fired them.
The police responded on the street at around 5:30 am – about an hour before the RV exploded.
So far, the police said they had found no evidence confirming the shooting.
‘Street shots’
Still, a woman, calling 911 just minutes after the first call, and a few buildings below him, told a dispatcher that she had heard “street shots”.
“We’ve heard it happen three times, and each time it feels like six or seven shots,” said the second person. The series of shots was separated by 20 or 30 minutes, she said.
“We didn’t lift our curtains because we’re trying not to draw attention to our windows,” said the woman, before the dispatcher assured the police that they were responding.
Recording ‘saying there is a limited time to evacuate’
Around that time, another 2nd Avenue North resident called 911 on the computer voice – having heard but not understanding who was delivering the message.
“We have a recording here saying that there is limited time to evacuate this area … Is it you? Is it the police?” the woman asked a 911 dispatcher.
The voice said something else, she relayed: “There is a big bomb inside this vehicle.”
“I’m sorry, I’m panicking,” she said, after asking the police to check.
The dispatcher said she still knew nothing about the voice, but assured the interlocutor that the police were already there. The caller thanked the dispatcher, wished her a Merry Christmas and ended the call.
“If you can hear this message, evacuate now,” said the voice repeatedly at around 6:30 am CT.
The RV then exploded.
‘Oh, we’re getting a lot of calls about this’
A few blocks south of the blast, a man saying he was a security guard at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center told a dispatcher from 911 that he saw remains of an explosion above a building near the AT&T broadcast building.
“There was a big explosion of fire at the top of the building,” he said. “It scared me too much.”
Meanwhile, the dispatcher talking to the man who was looking out the 15th floor window was processing what he was saying to her.
“Oh, we’re getting a lot of calls because of that,” she said, apparently after looking for his address.
The man said the view was scary. ‘It looks like (inaudible) it’s still on fire. “
The woman who said her roof was collapsing came out, examined the rest of the destruction and assured others that the police knew.
“911 is coming soon!” she screamed during her own call.
Eric Levenson, Madeline Holcombe and Ray Sanchez of CNN contributed to this report.