‘I could see the gun smoke…swirling around the head of the officer’

It started as a lazy Sunday in Seattle. Thousands were tuned in to the Seahawks defeating the Vikings. Others were taking care of holiday shopping, or running errands, such as Gloria, as she drove through her Ravenna-Bryant neighborhood.

But in a matter of seconds, she was stopped, and trapped in her car amid a hail of gunfire.

“I was there a few seconds and all the gunfire went off. I thought nobody could have lived through that much gunfire,” said Gloria, a caller in to KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson Show. “I looked up a little bit. I could see and smell the gunpowder smoke coming into my car and swirling around the head of the officer. I thought, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe this.'”

Related: Man shot and killed in shootout with police following carjacking and chase

On Sunday, Nov. 6, Seattle police pursued a carjacker in a lengthy chase through the city’s streets. It started when the man, armed with a handgun, stole a car at gunpoint in Belltown. He then drove to Montlake, where he switched vehicles, stealing another car at gunpoint. Police caught up to the carjacker in Montlake. Gunfire was exchanged before the man sped away, leading them on a chase that ended in the Ravenna-Bryant neighborhood &#8212 where he crashed in front of Gloria’s car.

Meanwhile, KIRO Radio anchor Ursula Reutin was getting text messages from her neighbors in nearby Wedgewood, telling her of the massive police presence in the area. She quickly called her husband, only to find he was trapped in a library in front of the police standoff with the carjacker. Her teenage son was even closer to the scene.

“He’s a curious teen, so he rolls down the window and hears the officers yelling,” Reutin said, noting her son was about 15 feet from one officer who eventually fired his weapon. “And then within seconds there are 30 police cars all around him. He realized, ‘Oh my gosh, this is something really bad.’ And a few seconds later, ‘bam-bam-bam-bam-bam.'”

Gloria was nearby. She was driving to take care of a few Sunday errands. She pulled over for a few speeding police cruisers with their lights flashing, before continuing down 35th Street. Then, a second round of cop cars came from behind, and she pulled over once more. This time, however, the police cars didn’t pass her. They stopped.

“Then, all of a sudden, I heard a loud crash. I looked to my left and, inches from my car, there was a car accident,” Golida said, thinking the crash was a byproduct of the “flurry of police activity.”

“Then a police officer jumped out of that car. It was an unmarked car. And it was the car that stopped the [carjacker],” Gloria said. “I looked up and there was a ton of police cars that surrounded the intersection. They jumped out and took cover… I looked up and saw a policeman run toward my car, and he ducks behind the front of it. He shouted to me, ‘Get down! Get down!'”

Related: Seattle police still searching for shooter who killed teenage relative

Gloria quickly laid down over the passenger seat of her car. That’s when she heard the guns go off. And then silence.

A police officer showed up at her window.

“He pounded on my door, said unlock it and screamed for me to get out… he yelled at me to ‘Get up! Get up!'” Gloria recalled. “He said ‘run down that block and hide behind those cars.'”

Gloria ran down the street, where curious neighbors were gathering behind police tape being stretched across the road.

Reutin’s husband was able to run from the library and find his son, who dove into the backseat of the car during the shootout.

“My husband was desperately trying to get out of the library… it was a terrifying few seconds,” Reutin said. “My son was so calm… he said it just happened so fast.”

The carjacker, described as a whit male in his 30s, died at the scene. Some drivers in the area were treated for non-life threatening injuries. In the end, police said 11 Seattle officers fired their weapons and are now on paid administrative leave &#8212 standard procedure following such a situation.

Residents in the area were fairly shaken by the incident, gathering along the perimeter of the scene, asking neighbors if anyone was hurt.

“You always say ‘it doesn’t happen in your neighborhood, it doesn’t happen in your neighborhood,'” Reutin said. “But, so often, we can’t say that anymore. It feels like it’s in too many neighborhoods. This time it was really close to ours.”

Gloria said she experienced a rush of adrenaline through the whole situation. She was initially worried about getting her car back, which was trapped behind police tape all Sunday, as police investigated the scene. She noted she was rather tired by the end of the day.

“But when I woke up this morning,” she said, her voice trembling. “I am like, ‘I had bullets flying next to me yesterday, in a really big shooting.’ I think I had more time to process the whole thing; what happened. I’m thankful the police were there. I don’t think anybody prepares to be involved in anything like that.”