911 calls reveal more details about recent Wilmington-area crime spree

Authorities have released 911 calls from a 24-hour crime spree that ended in a shootout on Market Street and left the suspect dead.

Authorities identified William Brent Gilmore, 35, as the suspect in four incidents — three in Wilmington and one in Wrightsville Beach — that occurred Thursday, August 17 and Friday, August 18. The final incident, a shootout with police, ended with Gilmore being shot and killed by law enforcement.

A drive-by shooting

In the first incident, which occurred on August 17, shots were fired into a home on Dixie Avenue. About 40 minutes later, a 54-year-old woman was shot in a drive-by while walking her dog on Lake Avenue. According to the 911 calls, obtained by the StarNews, neighbors heard the gunshots and responded to assist the victim, later identified as Shelley Lancaster.

A female caller said she was leaving her home with her dog when she heard the shots.

“My neighbor’s out. She’s just texted me. She’s been shot. I need an ambulance,” the caller said.

Throughout the conversation with the dispatcher, the caller is breathless and upset as she describes hearing “at least four or five shots.”

In the background, a person, presumably the victim, can be heard saying, “I love you, momma” and is crying out in pain.

The caller asks another person at the scene to tell her where the victim was shot, and relays to the 911 operator the victim has been shot in the arm, the leg, and the side.

Another caller reported hearing “six to eight shots,” but said he could not tell where the shots were coming from, and by the time he got to the window to look out, he saw a person lying on the ground “two houses down from the daycare.”

“I’m scared to go out of my house, though,” he told the operator. “It looks like there’s a couple people over there by them now.”

Lancaster was transported to the hospital for treatment and is recovering.

Shots fired at Wrightsville Beach

The next incident occurred the following day on Friday, Aug. 18 on Scotch Bonnet Lane in Wrightsville Beach. At a news conference a few hours after the incident, Wrightsville Beach Police Chief David Squires said a cleaning woman, who had children with her, was zip-tied and assaulted by the suspect in a room of a home on Scotch Bonnet Lane.

Squires said when the children went to check on her, a chase ensued, and the woman and children were assisted by beachgoers as the suspect fled in a black SUV without plates.

Records provided by New Hanover County 911 depict the chaos at the scene. There was a total of 10 calls made reporting the incident. One male caller told the 911 operator he heard “gunfire at the A-frame house on the water.” While he didn’t have the address, he told her it was “down by the big hotel — the Holiday Inn Express.”

“There’s somebody with zip ties on their wrists,” he said as screams are heard in the background. “We need the police.”

The caller said beachgoers were alerted to the incident after hearing someone screaming for help and seeing “two or three people run out from the house.” Then he said they heard about five shots. In the recording, he tells the operator beachgoers are assisting the people who ran from the house, and she asks if they are safe.

“We’ve got them,” he said. “People are safe. We’ve got them OK.”

He told the operator one of the victims said, ‘They’re trying to kidnap us,’ and beachgoers were talking to the woman and “getting the zip ties off her.”

Another male caller reported shots fired near “public access number 8” by the Holiday Inn and Suites.

“I have somebody here that’s tied up literally in wrist bands — wrist band ties, and she’s running on the beach,” he said, trying to catch his breath.

He also reported seeing two teenage girls run from the house.

“She said they have a gun, and it looks like it’s their mom that’s tied up,” he told the operator.

A third caller is reporting the incident and begins calling out to the victims telling them to “keep going that way.”

“She’s OK, she’s OK,” he said. “She ran that way. Keep going that way.”

In the background female voices are heard screaming for someone to “get a knife” and “somebody get that off her,” presumably to remove the victim's ties.

This man was the only caller who was able to provide information about the suspect. He said that “the bald guy” tied one of the victim’s hands. The man speaks to the victims who described Gilmore as a white male “probably mid-forties, bald head with tattoos, a little bit heavy” and driving a blue, full-size sedan and parked at the oceanfront, A-frame house on Scotch Bonnet Lane.

The operator asked the man if the victim knew the suspect.

“No,” he said. “She’s the housekeeper, and she thought he was staying there, but he was just a random guy. He’s a bigger dude, bald head, and he has these tattoos, and he had a towel wrapped around his leg.”

The 911 operator verifies the comment about the towel on the suspect’s leg.

“That’s the last time I saw him,” the caller said.

The operator tells the man responders are on their way.

“You got a beach full of people freaking out,” he said.

A female caller who said she was at “beach access 8” heard shots and ran. The operator asked if they were in a safe location.

“We’re still on the beach,” she said. “We don’t really know what to do.”

She reported hearing “five or six gunshots” before “people came running out of the dunes.”

One man, presumably an employee of the Holiday Inn Resort reported there was “a person on the beach waving a gun around.”

He said he did not see the incident himself and was just “relaying the message.”

“We just had guests come up in our resort and ask us to call the police,” he said.

He said he was going to go and let his “supervisors from upstairs” know what he had done.

At least three of the call records show where 911 operators returned hang-up calls from callers who realized others were already reporting the incident.

Incident ends with suspect’s death

Law enforcement pursued Gilmore to Market Street, attempted to conduct a traffic stop, and conducted a pit maneuver. Gilmore fled his vehicle, firing at officers in the middle of Market Street. They returned fire, killing him.

At a news conference hours after the incident, New Hanover County District Attorney Ben David said he was calling on the State Bureau of Investigation to investigate the incident because it resulted in an officer-involved shooting with multiple officers firing their weapons.

Earlier this week, New Hanover County District Attorney Ben David announced the officers who responded to the incident and fired their weapons would not face charges and could return to work as soon as they were able.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Wilmington, Wrightsville Beach shooting incidents detailed in 911 calls