Atlantic City first-responders were getting ready to put the wounded man on a gurney when gunshots rang out again. This time, toward them.
“Three or four shots rang out,” acting Atlantic City Fire Capt. Jamil Wilkins told BreakingAC. “It felt and sounded like they came right over our heads.”
Police are now offering a $5,000 reward for helping find the suspect who shot at firefighters and EMTs as they tended to a gunshot victim July 11.
Anthony McCrae was gasping for air the whole time they worked on him, Wilkins said.
He first heard a gunshot while still inside the Fire Station before 9 that night. Then, they got the call of a shooting.
When Wilkins and three of his firefighters from Engine 3 arrived at Lincoln and Ohio avenues, they asked police if the scene was secure.
They were cleared to go to the victim, and started to bandage him up as EMTs and more officers arrived,
When the EMTs got there, “the plan was to get him on a gurney and get him in the ambulance,” Wilkins said .
The medics were going to put on a heart monitor. Then there were shots.
“My son was my first thought,” he said.
Wilkins and Firefighter Mark Maguire ducked behind a car on the north side of the street. Firefighters William Force and Daniel Williams were on the south side by a house’s deck.
After about 10 minutes, police made a shield so firefighters and EMTs could return.
“He was no longer struggling for air by then,” Wilkins said.
McCrae died from his wounds.
The sounds of gunfire were caught on at least one of the responding police officer's body cameras. The Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office turned down a records request for the footage, saying it was part of an ongoing investigation.
The Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit is investigating with the help of Atlantic City police.
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Major Crimes at 609-909-7666. Anyone who knows who shot at police is asked to call 609-347-5766.
