Albuquerque police release 911 recordings of July 12 office shootings that left 3 dead, 4 hurt

Albuquerque police release 911 tapes of shootings

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Breathless calls to emergency operators described the shots fired at an Albuquerque business where a gunman last week stormed through a courtyard and into a building, killing two people and wounding four others before killing himself.

Albuquerque police said they received at least 30 calls reporting the July 12 shooting, and they released several 911 tapes Thursday.

In one, a man tells the operator in a low voice that shots have been fired at Emcore Corp.

When she asks if he witnessed it, he tells her he didn’t see it and that he’s hiding behind a desk.

“Do you think it’s an employee?” she asks.

“Yes,” he responds. “We need someone here now.”

Police have said they believe Robert Reza’s target at the solar panel manufacturer was his ex-girlfriend, Adrienne Basciano, who was seriously wounded.

The shootings sent terrified employees running to other businesses or neighboring Kirtland Air Force Base, or hiding behind locked doors and under desks.

Police have said Reza fired 21 shots, most of them outside. He shot out windows at the front of the building to get inside, then roamed around, apparently looking for someone, Police Chief Ray Schultz said previously.

In another 911 tape, an out-of-breath caller tells an operator two or three people have been shot, but he doesn’t know who shot them and didn’t see the shootings.

When the operator questions him about the number of victims, responds, “I think three. That’s what I heard. We just ran out of the building.”

He tells her he heard three shots fired a couple of minutes earlier.

The operator repeatedly tells the man during the three-minute call to get to a safe place so he can help her with details. He ends up at a credit union about a block away, where she tells him to stay until officers can contact him.

“Do not go back to that building, do you understand?” she tells him before she disconnects.

Another caller tells a dispatcher there are reports of shooting at Emcore, but the dispatcher loses the caller after that.

Basciano was released from the hospital this week. She was the last of the wounded to be sent home.

Police said Thursday that Reza bought the .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun he used in the shooting at an Albuquerque gun shop May 6.

Reza left a rambling, 40-page “manifesto,” police have said. Schultz said it was not specifically aimed at Basciano, but rather appeared to be ramblings of someone in a crisis who was mentally ill.

Authorities have said former Emcore co-workers were aware that Reza struggled with mental health issues. Investigators have been trying to verify whether Reza had a mental illness.