GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Calls to 911 released on Friday to 11Alive give insight into the moments before a high school football star was shot and killed outside a Dave & Buster's in Gwinnett County on Wednesday night.
The Jefferson community is in mourning after the incident this week, in which 18-year-old Elijah DeWitt - described by his mother as a determined football player, a dreamer and the "kindest soul" - died in the parking lot of Sugarloaf Mills Mall.
Suspect Chandler Zion Richardson, 19, was arrested in South Carolina on Thursday.
One of the calls came from a woman who had heard the gunshots just after she parked. She told the operator she had seen the alleged gunman moments earlier, when he crossed past her car.
"I was about to park, he literally like crossed my path, I almost ran him over," the woman said. "I thought he was like trying to walk to his car."
She finished parking - then heard the gunshots.
"I got out, I hear the shooting, I saw him (the gunman) run across the parking lot," she said. "I was like, that has to be a gun, that was no fireworks."
The woman described a black car dropping the gunman off before the shooting occurred.
"He probably grabbed the gun from the black car," she said.
Two other calls were released to 11Alive. In one, the manager of the Dave & Buster's receives instructions on how to perform CPR, telling the operator "he's barely breathing."
After attempting CPR, he frantically says, "no response, no response."
In the final call, a young woman can be heard crying in the background throughout as a man on the phone tries to describe the situation.
"I was at Dave & Buster's, I heard people screaming, I looked towards my right and I see someone lay down," he said. "I've never seen anything like this, man."
Police have still not offered a complete motive for the shooting. They said in a statement Friday that, "It appears that the suspects and the victim were familiar with each other and when they encountered each other in the parking lot, an altercation took place and then the shooting."
"He was so full of life and love and he was courageous," his mom Dawn said this week. "It really was a privilege to be a part of the journey and I really wish I could just have it back."
A GoFundMe has been set up by Elijah's family in his honor, and all proceeds will go to his family as they mourn his death. Those who want to donate can do so here.