My husband and I went to the television tower when we heard gun fire. The road was blocked by a crowd of people who were chanting: ”Lithuania!" We climbed onto the net fence that was surrounding the tower. I stayed behind the fence, and my husband ran to the tower. Shortly after, tanks came into view. They made a semi-circle around the tower. The whole time they were firing rifles and tommy guns. It seemed like they were shooting blanks, although I also heard a series of machine-gun fire.
But that didn't stop the people, as they continued to jump over the fence and run towards the tower. A tank whose path was blocked by a crowd of people tried several times to move from that place. Its engine roared loudly, and you could hear the screams of the people, but the crowd didn't move. The entire time the tank was approaching, it was emitting smoke screens. Then I saw the first of the wounded people - it looked like they had been injured by that tank. People were asked to take the injured with their own cars.
At first I was still waiting for my husband, and was very nervous. The first dead person was brought over and laid down. He was an older man, and didn't have many clothes on - apparently he didn't live too far away. Then I went to the tourist agency building. There were quite a few people standing all around. Injured people were being led over. I approached a small group of people and immediately one woman asked loudly: “Perhaps Mrs. Gradauskienė is here?" I shivered through my heart and body. I said that I was she. She told me that my husband had been injured and was in one of the ambulances. I rushed there and checked all the ambulances, but didn't find him. I asked the doctors where they were taking the injured people, and they said that they were being taken to different hospitals. Then I noticed a smashed sand truck and a badly damaged car. After that I saw some men getting into a car. I asked if they could give me a lift to the city. They took me to the first hospital. Inside there were a lot of injured people, and I began to ask about those who had already been brought in, but I heard that at the moment they couldn't give any concrete information. I found out that 5 people had already died. I cannot find adequate words to describe the state I was in... I watched as they were brought in one by one. It was awful. The one person closest to me could be among them. I heard as one woman recog-nized her father... I called home and told my mother-in-law everything.
We found out about Robertas when we got a call from the hospital. They said that he had been shot in the legs and had been operated on, and that he was in stable condition. This news brought me back to life.
Lithuania, 1991.01.13 : documents, testimonies, comments. - Vilnius : State Publishing Center, 1992, p. 107-108.