"I thought I was about to die," said Terri Jones of being on a Maryland bus that became part of a deadly shootout with police.
Blaine Robert Erb, 35, was killed Wednesday, after he shot at police who were investigating an armed robbery.
The call came from Jones, an Atlantic City native who says she saw Erb rob someone while she was waiting to get on the bus in Dundalk, Maryland.
"He pulled a gun out of his pants and stuck it in a guy's face," she recalled. "He was yelling, 'Give me your money.'"
Jones got on her phone and called police to tell them she was witnessing an armed robbery in progress.
"Did you see anything?" the man asked her while she was still on the phone with a 911 operator. Jones told him no. Then, she got onto a Maryland Transit Administration bus, still talking to 911.
Officers were dispatched at 2:49 p.m. for an armed street robbery in progress, police said. When they got there, there was an update: The suspect had fled on a bus.
"Oh my God, he's getting on the bus," Jones said she told the operator when she saw Erb get on three stops later.
Police stopped the bus a short distance away.
When officers tried to confront Erb, he started firing, police said.
Inside the bus, he hit the woman sitting next to Jones.
"(Erb) then told us to get off the bus," she recalled. "I thought I was about to die."
Video posted on Facebook shows the man shooting at police from the bus.
https://www.facebook.com/steve.outlaw.94/videos/1681853311844858/
The video shows Erb running from the bus, then continuing to exchange gunfire with the police.
He was fatally shot in the exchange.
A 21-year-old woman inside the bus was shot, along with a 13-year veteran of the police department.
Four officers fired their weapons during the exchange, and have all been placed on administrative leave.
Footage from police body cameras along with a camera inside the bus are part of the investigation..
Two .40-caliber semiautomatic handguns were found next to Erb's body. He was prohibited from owning guns due to a prior armed robbery conviction.
Erb had a lengthy criminal history in Maryland and neighboring states, police said. He also had an open warrant out of Pennsylvania.
