Los Angeles News

PALM DESERT In a frantic 911 call made just after shots rang out inside a Palm Desert Toys "R" Us store on "Black Friday," a female store employee told a dispatcher that two men just started fighting, and both wound up wounded -- and eventually dead, according to a transcript of the call released Monday.

In a call punctuated by screams and background commotion that made it difficult for the dispatcher to hear, the employee yelled at other people to keep calm and tried to keep her composure as she described the scene at the store.

Alejandro Moreno, 39, of Desert Hot Springs, and Juan Meza, 28, of Cathedral City, shot each other to death during an apparent running gun battle that broke out around 11:30 a.m. Friday inside the store near Fred Waring Drive and Highway 111, according to deputies and witness reports. The shooting came at the traditionally busy start of the holiday shopping season.

"I don't know, they just started fighting and all I heard was, 'he's got a gun' and these two guys, they're on the floor and both of them are shot," the caller told the 911 dispatcher during the roughly two-and-a-half-minute call.

Here is an unofficial, partial transcript of the call, a recording of which was released by the Riverside County Sheriff's Department:

Caller: I got the cops. I got the cops on the phone.

Dispatcher: This is 911.

Caller: (inaudible) at the Toys `R' Us in Palm Desert (inaudible)

Dispatcher: I'm sorry, what in Palm Desert?

Caller: Toys `R' Us (inaudible). ... The guy's still here with the gun.

Dispatcher: Ma'am? Ma'am?

Caller: Yes?

Dispatcher: I need to get an address.

Caller: Oh my God! Oh my God!

Dispatcher: I need to get an address.

Caller: OK, OK, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Dispatcher: You need, can you go somewhere where I can hear you?

Caller: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Our address is 74321 Highway 111.

Dispatcher: 73341?

Caller: 74321 Highway 111. I think this guy's dying.

Dispatcher: What's the cross street?

Caller: We're off of 111 and Fred Waring.

Dispatcher: OK, what's going on?

Caller: I don't know, they just started fighting and all I heard was, 'he's got a gun' and these two guys they're on the floor and both of them are shot.

Dispatcher: Both of them are shot?

Caller: Yes.

Dispatcher: Who has the gun?

Caller: Um, I don't know. One of, I don't know, one of them in the dark shirt had a gun and ...

Dispatcher: Where's the person with the gun?

Caller: He's passed out on the register.

Dispatcher: OK. He's passed out on the register. Is he shot also?

Caller: Yes, they're both shot. They're both down. There's all kinds of kids...

Dispatcher: Is this a business?

Caller: Yes, it's Toys `R' Us.

Dispatcher: It's Toys `R' Us?

Caller: Yes, Toys `R' Us. I have the cops on the phone, calm down.

Dispatcher: OK, you need to calm down. Hold on, ok?

Caller: Yes.

Dispatcher: Calm down. Give me a description of the two people that are down.

Caller: One has a bald head, a black sweatshirt and black jeans on. The other one has a brown sweatshirt, with Levis on and white tennis shoes.

Dispatcher: The second subject that's down, what is he wearing?

Caller: They're both down. They're both down.

Dispatcher: OK, the second subject -- the first person is wearing a black sweatshirt. The second person...

Caller: A golf shirt and shorts...

Dispatcher: OK, I can't hear. A black sweatshirt ...

Caller: Black sweatshirt and black cutoff jeans. The second suspect has on a pair of blue jeans ... and he's on the floor. The cops are coming now. Oh God.

Dispatcher: Are they there? Are the deputies there?

Caller: Yeah, they're here. They're coming, they're coming. They got two down on the floor. Please, please, please. OK, the cops are here now.