An interview with Michelle Theer: 'Night falls–and death beckons'
Q. Did you realize he had been shot then, or what did you think?
A. I just remember thinking, I kept looking at the blood on the front of his forehead and wiping it away and thinking that he had fallen and cut his head. But when he wouldn't answer me, I kept thinking something's wrong. And, of course, this is all happening in about three seconds. And for some reason, which I still don't understand, because it seems illogical if somebody's breathing, but I put my head down on his chest to check his heartbeat or something, I guess, I don't know, but of course I couldn't hear anything because my own heart was pounding in my ear. And I remember telling him, telling him, it's going to be OK, it's going to be OK, I'm going to go get help. I got up and I saw–I was at the bottom of the stairs, and I was facing the building next to us, and the lights were on inside [that] building, and there was a light on at the back of the building and then there was a car parked there–actually there were several cars parked.
Q. On the same parking lot?
A. In the building next to ours. . . . There were several cars parked. . .
Q. Was there anybody in these cars?
A. No, but I will say that it looked like somebody was there because there were lights in the cars, I guess. And all I could think was, somebody help me, somebdy help me, somebody help me. And that's what I told Marty, I am going to get somebody to help. . . [she says she ran across the back of the parking lot and banged on the doors of commercial buildings]. . . There were doors all along the back. . . and nobody answered. [She says she then ran through an alley out onto Raeford Road, the thoroughfare that runs in front of her office building. She says she tried to flag down passing cars, but none stopped. Then, she ran several blocks along Raeford Road, losing a shoe, and reached the Video Hut.].
Q. Were you pretty hysterical?
A. Yeah. . . . I started screaming, I don't know what I was screaming: "Is anybody here [at the Video Hut], somebody help me please, somebody, is anybody here?" And this woman walked out. . . and when I said the words, it was like somebody else was saying them. It was like it was the first time I realized this–that somebody shot my husband. . . . I don't think I really realized until that moment that I knew what happened. And she called 911. I know that at some point she gave me the phone, I could hardly hear what the operator was saying, it felt like they were–I remember I had to keep saying the address over and over again. It seemed like they couldn't understand the address. . . .
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