PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (CBS12) — “Breathe, baby. Breathe.”
Newly released 911 calls capture desperate attempts to save two men after gunfire erupted outside a Port St. Lucie home, leaving one caller pleading for help as a wounded man faded in front of her.
Multiple callers contacted dispatchers shortly before 3:30 a.m. July 19 after hearing repeated gunshots near Southeast Rivergreen Circle. The calls show residents trying to direct officers toward the shooting while remaining inside their homes as police rushed to the neighborhood.
“There’s a shootout. Please, please,” the caller told a dispatcher shortly after 3:28 a.m. July 19.
When asked whether anyone had been hit, she answered, “Yes. Two people. I need help right now.”
The caller repeatedly urged one of the wounded men to remain conscious.
“Stay up. Breathe, baby. Breathe, baby, please,” she said. “He’s dying. Please help me.”
Officers responding to Southeast Rivergreen Circle found 24-year-old Carl Loubeau and 22-year-old Juliun Stokes suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Both were taken to hospitals, where they later died.
The calls show how quickly the shooting unfolded. The first caller apparently mistook the gunfire for fireworks and asked police to check the area near the dog park because the noise had awakened his young daughter.
Within seconds, other residents began reporting gunshots, screaming and people lying outside.
One neighbor said about eight shots woke him but told the dispatcher he was too frightened to look outside.
“No, I don’t even want to look,” he said.
Another caller estimated hearing 10 shots, followed by a brief pause and another burst.
“It got quiet for less than a minute, and then a couple more rounds went off,” the caller said.
A resident watching through a home security camera reported seeing someone lying in a driveway.
“I’m looking through my camera because I didn’t want to go outside,” the caller said. “I woke up from the gunshots and the screaming, and I just see someone laying in the driveway.”
Man who returned fire calls 911
The most significant call appears to have come from 20-year-old Dwayne Walker, whom investigators identified as the man who returned fire after Loubeau allegedly shot Stokes.
“Somebody shot my cousin, and I shot back,” Walker told a dispatcher. “I don’t know what to do.”
Walker pleaded for police and paramedics to hurry, saying his cousin was not responding.
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“He shot my cousin, sir,” Walker said as officers arrived. “He shot first.”
Walker also repeatedly told officers that the guns had been dropped and said he did not want any trouble.
“The guns are dropped,” he said. “I haven’t done anything at all, sir.”
Later in the call, Walker described what he said happened before the shooting.
“We were just coming to a house, and her boyfriend shot my cousin,” Walker said. “Because my cousin said, ‘Hey,’ to him, and he laughed, and he said, ‘Do I know you?’ And he shot my cousin. So I shot back, sir.”
Police initially said an argument over a house key had escalated into a shootout between the two victims. Investigators later revised that account, saying jealousy involving a woman apparently triggered the violence and that Stokes did not fire a weapon.
According to Port St. Lucie Police Chief Leo Niemczyk, Stokes and several friends had gone bowling with Loubeau’s girlfriend earlier that night. When the group returned to the home and realized they were locked out, the woman called Loubeau and asked him to bring a spare key.
Police believe Loubeau became jealous when he arrived and saw his girlfriend with Stokes and Walker.
Newly released 911 calls capture neighbors reporting repeated gunfire after a Port St. Lucie shooting that left two men dead in a driveway. (WPEC)
Investigators said Loubeau approached Stokes as he stood beside the open driver’s door of a Ford Mustang and opened fire. Police believe Loubeau may have mistaken Stokes for Walker, who authorities said had some type of relationship with Loubeau’s girlfriend.
Walker, who was near the rear of the Mustang, drew a lawfully carried handgun and returned fire, striking Loubeau, police said.
Investigators determined Walker acted in self-defense and said he will not face criminal charges.
Police said Loubeau fired eight rounds from a 9 mm handgun and one round from a .380-caliber weapon. Walker fired eight rounds from a .40-caliber handgun, according to the department’s preliminary findings.
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Stokes was armed, but investigators said there was no evidence that he fired his weapon.
The 911 recordings also capture the chaotic arrival of officers, who can be heard ordering people to the ground and demanding that they keep their hands visible while callers continued begging for medical aid.
“He needs an ambulance,” someone shouted as police secured the scene.
No arrests have been made. Detectives are continuing to review forensic evidence, phone records, toxicology findings and autopsy reports before formally closing the investigation.
Anyone with additional information is asked to contact the Port St. Lucie Police Department at 772-871-5000.