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Tampa couple heard gunshots on way to D.C. museum

The Associated Press

Susie and Charles Towater of Tampa were near the Holocaust Museum when the shooting occurred.

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By HOWARD ALTMAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 10, 2009

Updated: 06/10/2009 04:26 pm

Susie and Charles Towater, a retired couple from Tampa, were running late for their tour of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum when they heard the loud popping sounds.

"We had 1:15 p.m. tickets," said Susie Towater via cell phone. "It was about 10 of one and we were a half block away from the museum. We were just crossing the block it was on when we heard the popping sounds. About six all at one time. My husband immediately said, 'Those are gunshots.' I said,
'No, it can't be.' He said, 'Those are gunshots.'"

As they got closer to the museum, the Towaters saw a woman and a small child running out.

"But we thought that they had a cab to catch to see the next museum," she said. "Then we saw security guards running down toward the alley. They were getting some young boys out of the museum. At first, we thought they were chasing them, but realize now that they were getting them out."

Despite hearing what they thought might be gunshots, the Towaters kept walking toward the museum.
That's where they saw a man lying on the ground - and realized that Charles was right.

"We got right across the street," Towater said. "The man was lying on the ground. He was lying on his back, right outside the door. He was a larger man, looked to be older. He was dressed in a dark coat. It looked like he had a tie on. He had dark hair. I didn't see any blood."

At first, because of the way he was dressed and his age, Towater thought the man was a victim.
Then people in the crowd – including a detective - said the man on the ground was the shooter, she said.

Initially, there were not many people surrounding the man on the ground. The couple didn't even realize they had come upon a crime scene until they saw the man.

"The police did not seem too threatened," Towater said. "They weren't hovering around him."

She later learned that the scene seemed relatively calm because the shooting took place in the front of the museum and most people were evacuated out of the back.

Towater said she and her husband watched as the man was whisked away by ambulance about 10 minutes after the shooting. For a few minutes, the Towaters stood around, watching the scene unfold.

Then police cordoned off the area and pushed them back about two blocks away.

Before leaving the area, Towater talked to a man who was inside the museum.

"He was not too far away from the shooting," Towater said. "He said he heard the popping and immediately got out."

Two hours later, Towater said, she was still in shock.

"I never saw a man lying on the sidewalk like that before," she said.

Towater, 59, has been in Washington since Friday for the Volunteers of America convention. Her husband, 73, joined her Sunday.

She is retired from pharmaceutical sales. Her husband retired from pharmaceutical research.

This was the couple's second attempt to see the museum.

Many years ago, they tried to visit, but the lines were too long.

"This time, we got tickets," she said.

The shooting, said Towater, is very disturbing.

"I hope no one was trying to send a message," she says.

When told that police say the man who brought the gun to the museum is a suspected white supremacist, Towater paused.

"I hate to hear that," she said. "I don't like hate from anyone's side. I certainly don't like white supremacists.

"We have a lot of Jewish neighbors we so dearly love," said Towater, an Episcopalian. "This is a horrible thing to do in front of the Holocaust Museum, a place that should be sacred and show the world what happened to the Jews in World War II. For something like this to happen is just horrible."

Editor Howard Altman can be reached at (813) 259-7629.

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