Carlene Pierre and Vanessa Gonzalez-Orellanes lay dying behind the front desk of the Quality Suites, inaccessible to potential rescuers because no one could reach them easily.
"There was a guy in here with a gun … we heard a couple of shots in the dining room," a guest at the hotel told a 911 operator moments after Michelet Polynice fired the deadly shots at his estranged girlfriend Pierre and her co-worker.
"Then he came in the dining room and fired a couple of random shots in the air and then took off," the caller said.
Orange County Sheriff's Office radio dispatch logs and three 911 calls related to the Sept. 27 domestic-violence double-murder-suicide and attempted murder of a third woman were released in response to a public records request made by the Orlando Sentinel.
Polynice fatally shot Pierre and Gonzalez-Orellanes at the hotel near International Drive, then drove to nearby Westgate Lakes resort and shot Pierre's best friend. After leading Orange County deputies on a pursuit through Pine Hills, Polynice committed suicide.
The death was the culmination of escalating violence between 33-year-old Polynice and 28-year-old Pierre. She had reported to police several incidents of violence at the hands of Polynice and feared he would one day kill her.
The Sheriff's Office had divulged few details about the deadly shooting prior to the release of the audio recordings today.
Dispatchers received the first of several 911 calls around 7:52 a.m. from a guest at Quality Inn Suites on Canada Drive. A caller thought a robbery had prompted the shooting.
"We were in the restaurant having breakfast. In fact, when he came in there everybody flattened down on the floor because he came in brandishing a gun," the man told operators.
The man said many of the hotel's guests didn't speak English and he couldn't find any other hotel employees to help reach the women.
The hotel's tall front counter and locked office door kept guests from helping Pierre and Gonzalez-Orellanes, the caller said.
Gonzalez-Orellanes, 28, was taken to nearby Dr. Phillips hospital where she died. Pierre was pronounced dead at Orlando Regional Medical Center.
Another hotel guest who spoke Spanish told an operator he heard four or five shots while he and his family were eating breakfast in the dinning room. He described Polynice as wearing "all black, like a rapper's clothing."
But the terror wasn't over.
Minutes later, at 7:56 a.m., dispatchers began receiving calls about a second shooting a few miles away.
Pierre's best friend, Jean Guerline, 31, was waiting for a shuttle at the Westgate Lakes resort when Polynice drove up and shot her in the stomach, witnesses said. The caller said he was an employee at the resort and witnessed the shooting. He gave a detailed description of Polynice's car, which helped deputies track him down 90 minutes later.
A second 911 caller from the Westgate resort shooting was frantic.
"Please, someone has been shot! Someone has been shot right here!" the caller screamed.
Guerline, who survived the shooting, told rescuers she knew the man who shot her was Polynice and that his child's mother worked at the Quality Inn Suites.
Operators, who were handling calls for both shootings, quickly realized the shootings were connected.
Law enforcement throughout Orange County began searching for Polynice's white sedan and found him in Pine Hills.
As authorities pursued Polynice near Powers Drive and Sunshine Street, the deputy following directly behind told dispatchers "I think he shot himself, I think he shot himself."
The car crashed into a fence and burst into flames.
bprieto@tribune.com or 407-420-5620
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