BAY CITY, Texas -- Two 911 calls were recorded during the fatal shooting last Wednesday in which a father shot and killed his four children, wounded his wife and then turned the gun on himself.
The Bay City Police Department released the two calls that were made in response to a shooting inside the mobile home in the 2700 block of 10th Street.
Bay City Junior High students walking home from school called 911 as they watched Jose Avila, 24, shoot his four children: Miguel Gonzalez, 5; Daniel Gonzalez, 3; Shaun Gonzalez, 4; and Cecilia Gonzalez, 18 months. He also shot his wife before turning the gun on himself.
The shooting had begun inside the mobile home where the family had lived for two years.
Avila and his wife, Laura Gonzalez, 24, argued before the shooting, police said.
Avila shot Gonzalez twice while inside the home and a third time in the yard after she tried to flee for help.
He then turned the .22-caliber revolver on himself.
The 911 audio has a female caller telling the dispatcher a man had shot a girl.
The voice of desperation is heard as the caller sees Avila shoot his family.
"He's going to kill her," the caller yelled.
The caller is heard asking Laura Gonzalez if she is OK.
"We have babies in the car, and he won't give them to the mom," the caller tells the 911 dispatcher.
"She is hurt, she is bleeding everywhere, and she can't stand. She's fainting," she said.
The 911 operator is heard calling EMS to the scene.
As the young girls tell the 911 dispatcher they were walking home from school, a frantic scream and crying is heard in the background.
"He's shooting the kids, he's trying to kill them!" the caller tells the operator.
The caller then screams that the shooter had killed himself.
"Oh my God, the babies," she said as she pleads for help.
The second 911 call came in about the same time as the first. The caller also asks the operator for help.
"Please, I swear to God, help me," the caller whispered into the phone.
"There is this man shooting a girl," she says.
The operator asks the caller if she could see the man shooting.
"Yes, I saw him with my own eyes," she said.
The caller tells the operator she was near the elementary as she describes the shooter to the dispatcher, saying he was wearing a white shirt.
She then sees the mother running away on foot.
"He shot the boys, he shot the boys, please hurry as fast as you can," she said.
And then he shot himself, she said.
The girl then begins to cry.
All four children were shot, and all four died.
Ricardo's Mexican Restaurant will have a barbecue benefit on Wednesday to raise money for the children's funeral expenses.
A candlelight vigil begins at 6 p.m. Wednesday for the victims, and takes place outside the steps of the Matagorda County Court House.
Copyright 2011 - Victoria Advocate, Texas
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
