Nobody believed that they would shoot. But then suddenly a series of shots was heard. Screams: “They're using real cartridges!" And there were already wounded! Immediately they began to carry them away one after another. One of them was some 18 years old and was carried to an ambulance and rushed away. Then, three more were carried over - dead. The face of one of them was so mutilated that his features were impossible to identify, and his clothes were torn...
One person fell down not far from me. We lifted him up. His leg was destroyed. What bullets?! I think these are prohibited in other countries - their center of gravity isn't in the head itself, but in the middle. When they meet an obstacle, they change direction and tear the muscle. The bullet hit him in the calf but came out through his hip...
You could hear sounds of rattling and breaking inside the tower. Screams, swears. The soldiers weren't young guys but mature 30-35 year old men. All the fourth and fifth floor windows of the neighboring houses had been broken. Blood began to run from some people's ears from the deafening sound of the shots. A doctor who was there said that it was because their ear drums had burst. Then, when the paratroopers had broken into the tower, you could see as they rushed upstairs.
Tanks started rolling along the embankment, and people pressed themselves against the fence. One tank turned and hit the fence with its back - lots of people fell from the embankment. Soldiers with tommy guns and bayonets climbed up onto the slope. They hit people in the legs. When I turned around, I saw a PAZ bus torn in two. The barrels of the tanks were moving up and down. Waste gas was floating like clouds. Tree branches were falling from the bullets...
People were petrified by that brutal force. No one ran. People just bent to the ground.
Lithuania, 1991.01.13 : documents, testimonies, comments. - Vilnius : State Publishing Center, 1992, p. 129-130.