“He has a gun”: Mom’s 911 call in standoff that left 4 kids dead

ORLANDO, Fla. – The mother of four children killed by her boyfriend called 911 from a 7-Eleven after fleeing her Orlando apartment, according to the June 10 call released Thursday by Orlando police, reports CBS affiliate WKMG. Ciara Lopez called Orlando police dispatch around 11:43 p.m. that her boyfriend, Gary Lindsey Jr., hurt her and took her phone.

“He hurt me and he has my phone and he has a gun, and there’s four children in the house,” Lopez said, her voice shaking.

The dispatcher asked Lopez if Lindsey had ever pulled the gun on her. “Not today,” she replied.

Lopez said her four children were locked in their rooms at the home at Westbrook Apartments complex and she drove to the nearby 7-Eleven to get help.

“I have to go back to the apartment,” she told dispatch several times.

WKMG reports that four minutes after that 911 call, Orlando police met Lopez at the complex’s leasing office and attempted to get the children out. During that interaction with Lindsey, OPD Officer Kevin Valencia was shot in the head and critically injured, police said. He remains in critical condition almost two weeks later.

Almost 24 hours after police arrived at the apartment and exchanged fire with Irayan Pluth, 12; Lillia Pluth, 10; Aidan Lindsey, 6; and Dove Lindsey, 1, were found shot to death in their beds, police said.

Orlando Police Chief John Mina said Lindsey shot and killed the children, two of whom were his own, before taking his own life.

“I don’t want to leave them alone there for too long, because he might do something,” Lopez told dispatch.

Lopez’s attorney released a statement Thursday afternoon about the 911 calls.

“It is clearly evident that in the recently released 911 call placed by Ciara Lopez … at 11:43 p.m. that she had been physically assaulted and was in a state of terror, in fear for her children’s lives at this point,” the statement read.

Lopez told a 911 operator that she was scratched up but didn’t need medical attention.

WKMG reports that at 4:35 a.m., Lindsey’s sister from Jacksonville called Orlando police unsure if her brother was the barricaded suspect she saw on the news, but said she put two and two together after she received a call from Lindsey’s friend at 2:30 a.m. who said Lindsey was threatening to kill himself.

Lindsey’s sister told dispatch, still unsure if her brother was the suspect, that she wanted to help if she could.

 

Gary Lindsey is seen in this May 18, 2018, mugshot after an arrest for a probation violation.

Volusia County Corrections

“I didn’t know exactly where it was. No one really did. I’m just calling because I saw this on the news and I was wondering if there was anything my mother and I could help,” she said.

WKMG reports that the month before the shooting, Lindsey’s sister attended a hearing after Lindsey reportedly violated his probation, and made a $1,000 restitution payment on his behalf which a judge said “saved him” from going to prison.

According to the station, Lindsey had a long history of arrests, including for arson and domestic violence. He once allegedly pulled a knife on his girlfriend while she held their 7-month-old child in her arms.

Orlando police also released 911 calls made by several concerned Westbrook residents.

The funeral for the four children will be held Saturday at St. James Catholic Cathedral Church, in downtown Orlando.

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