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Kevin off him and down to the floor. He got up and ran. Kevin tackled him, brought him down, but failed to immobilize him. He grabbed his stepdad by the calves, shouting: “You’re not going out there; you’re going to die right here.” In the struggle, the button on Ralston’s pants popped open. As he was wriggling out of them, and Kevin’s grasp, he struggled towards the front door. Kevin, sensing he was losing his grip, shouted to Pierre: “Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!”
    Up until this point, Pierre had been watching, stunned, as Kevin attacked Ralston, just as Tim had when Kevin hacked away at Johnathon. He stood, open-mouthed with the wooden baseball bat in his hands, shocked at what he’d seen, both here and in the basement. But something in the urgency of Kevin’s demand woke him out of his trance.
    He pulled the bat behind his head and swung it at the prone man’s head as hard as he could. He did it again and again. Ralston held his hand up in the air, trying to protect his bruised, bleeding head. He looked Pierre in the eye and said: “Why are you doing this to me? I’ve never done anything to you.” The only answer Pierre could provide was a tearful “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” and took a few more whacks at him.
    Desperate, Ralston kept struggling. He wriggled out of his pants and crawled to the front door. Behind him, he heard Kevin yell: “Jesus Christ! He’s getting away!” Ralston managed to open the door and screamed for help. He noticed Pierre position himself on the stairway so he could hit him with the bat again. Kevin shut the front door, but Ralston kept screaming. With one more push, Ralston managed to open the door just enough for him to squeeze through. He lost his pants and jacket in the process.
    Clad in just boxer shorts and a T-shirt despite the snow, and with blood dripping from his head, Ralston kept screaming. Unaware if anyone could hear him, he yelled: “Please help, They’re trying to kill me!” Luckily, a woman happened to be riding by the house on her bicycle exactly as he escaped. He stopped her and shouted, “Please help me! They’re trying to kill me!” She rode to a payphone and called 911.
    Ralston ran to a nearby house, where he knew the residents. He recounted the story and the neighbors called 911 again. The calls were logged in at 5:39 and 5:42 p.m.
    As soon as Pierre and Kevin saw Ralston and the bicyclist leave, they fled the house. Taking nothing—not even their weapons—with them, and with no more complicated plan than simply running away, they sprinted as fast and as far as their legs and lungs would allow.

    Detective Glenn Gray began to listen to the tape Ashley and her friends had made. He had heard hundreds of death threats before, but was particularly unnerved and even a little sickened by this one. He later told me he “had never heard a tape so cold and calculated.” These kids were talking about murder as casually as someone else might talk about their day at the office.
    He was about halfway through it when another cop asked him if he’d just sent some officers to an address on Dawes. He said that he had and the other officer told him about the two calls for an attempted murder at No. 90.
    Within seconds, Gray ordered an emergency task force (ETF) to 90 Dawes. They were heavily armed and specially trained in assault and negotiation techniques, but they didn’t know who was inside the house, what they were armed with, and if they had any hostages or not. Gray also ordered more discreet teams to the addresses he had been given for Tim, Pierre and Ashley.
    He then called Ashley’s house. He told her parents that the two big guys in the car parked in front of her house were his men and that they were there for their protection. If the phone should ring, he told them, pick it up, but don’t let any of the boys speak with Ashley under any circumstances. If Tim or any of the boys should come banging on the door, Gray told them to