Dispatcher Debra Cepeda can only guess why the gunman who stormed the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle in July suddenly stopped his rampage that killed one and wounded five others.

Only the gunman knows for sure why he put down his weapon and surrendered while on the phone with Cepeda and her colleague, Lieth Nedell, who had only minutes before answered a 911 call from a terrified victim.

“It’s possible that because we kept him on the phone longer that he crashed — you, know, his adrenaline crashed and he just couldn’t do anymore,” Cepeda said during an interview videotaped by the Seattle Police Foundation. “Nobody knows that. Nobody knows that but him.”

The video was presented Friday during the Seattle Police Foundation’s annual awards banquet. Cepeda, 44, and Nedell, 43, received awards for outstanding public service and were among 54 police employees honored this year.

The Seattle P-I requested a copy of the brief video because both women have been prohibited from speaking with the media about the July 28 shootings because of the pending case against the shooting suspect, Naveed Haq. The video also features interviews with victims.

Haq, 30, is accused of forcing his way into the Jewish Federation office at gunpoint. He is accused of shooting and killing Pamela Waechter, 58, and wounding Dayna Klein, Christina Rexroad, Layla Bush, Cheryl Stumbo and Carol Goldman. Klein, who was pregnant, was shot in the arm but managed to reach a phone and dial 911.

With a gun pointed at her head, Klein handed the phone to the shooter. Police say Haq, a Tri-Cities native of Pakistani descent, demanded to be connected to CNN and ranted about being a Muslim angry at Israel’s conflict in Lebanon and U.S. support of Israel.

When Haq was told he couldn’t be linked to the media, he put down his gun and gave up, authorities say.

“This was such an incredibly fast event from beginning to end, from the time shots were fired until he just finally said, ‘OK, I’m coming out, I’m giving up,’ ” said Cepeda, a chief dispatcher who has been with the department 23 years. “I think it was something like 12 minutes.”

Nedell, who started with Seattle police 13 months ago, first took the call. Both she and Cepeda were credited with saving lives by calming down the shooter and keeping him preoccupied with questions.

“I don’t feel like I did anything out of the ordinary that I wouldn’t have done on any other kind of call,” Cepeda said. “It’s just my job. You just have to know that you did the best you could and hope that things turned out for the better.”

SPI