That was the question that was circulating through the troubled city hours after the alleged attack. Police released the audio of the radio car call where the officer clearly tells dispatch he's been shot out. Two veteran officers in the nearby parking lot of Richmond's temporary headquarters reported confirmed they had head the gunfire.

"One of our officers was just going out on patrol for the day shift," said Richmond police Lt. Mark Gagan. "He heard a shot. His window shattered. That was confirmed by officers in our parking lot. We haven't found the shell casing yet… It's pretty upsetting."

But later in the day, a deputy police chief claimed that the window shattered as a result of a defect in the Ford Crown Victoria.

Whatever the reason, the incident further stirred the raw emotions of a city brought to the edge by several weeks of gun violence on its streets. SWAT teams patrolled Richmond neighborhoods overnight trying to quell the violence that had left three people dead and as many as seven wounded over the last 72 hours.

The outbreak of violence followed a disturbing trend in the East Bay city. In late August, there were six shootings in one 21-hour period and 12 people were wounded and one killed in a weekend filled with violence on Aug. 10-12.

"These are territorial groups that are fighting it out right now," Gagan said.

"I think if they can't find any of the associates of the gang they are going after, they are shooting at people on the street corners to send out the message that no one in this district is safe… This is the kind of urban terrorism that these gangs are using to establish themselves."

The violence started Tuesday at around 9:45 a.m. in the 300 block of Willard Avenue. One person suffered gunshot wounds, but survived, Gagan said.

Then, at about 3 p.m., police found 21-year-old Deondra Holden shot dead behind the wheel of a sport utility vehicle near the intersection of Richmond Parkway and Hensley Avenue in Central Richmond, according to police.

At about 8:10 p.m. police received reports of yet another shooting at the intersection of First Street and Macdonald Avenue in the city's Iron Triangle neighborhood. Jewell May Weather Jr., a 23-year-old Richmond man, was killed and another victim suffered non-life threatening gunshot wounds, Gagan said.

Ten minutes later in South Richmond, four more people were shot at 37th Street and Wall Avenue. Dwayne Moore, a 19-year-old Richmond man, was killed in the shooting.

Two more people were shot Wednesday morning in what police believe was a retaliation shooting.

Gagan said that at about 10:17 a.m. police received a call reporting a shooting in front of the Richmond Works building, which runs a jobs skills program for 17- to 24-year-olds.

Witnesses told police that a group of people had been standing on the corner of Gertrude and Filbert streets when a white sedan pulled up and fired 30 rounds at the gathering, Gagan said.

Police found one victim who had been shot in the arm.

Meanwhile, Doctors Hospital in San Pablo called police to notify them that a person suffering from a gunshot wound to the head had just been brought to the hospital. That person was listed in critical condition.

Police have since determined that both people were victims of the same shooting, Gagan said.

There have been no arrests in any of the shootings.