Anthony LaCalamita is arrested Monday following a high-speed chase on Interstate 75 in south Bay County near Detroit. LaCalamita is suspected of shooting three people Monday at an accounting firm in Troy, Mich.

Troy, Mich. ? Workers at the accounting firm Gordon Advisors had buckled down for tax week, their busiest time of year, when the crisp “pop” sounds started.

Then came screams, and the smell of gunpowder.

“It was a panic. No one knew what to do. No one knew where to go,” said Jean Larson, 48, an accountant working at the firm where a woman was killed and two men were wounded Monday.

Workers talked to 911 dispatchers as the gunman ran past, Troy Police Lt. Gerry Scherlinck said.

“He literally made eye contact with witnesses, they could see the shotgun in his hand, they could smell the gunpowder and he ran by them,” he said.

In the bedlam that followed the midmorning shooting, police hurried employees into a lunchroom in the suburban Detroit building while officers searched for the gunman. Some workers opted to hole up in smaller offices.

Larson and two other women locked the door, barricaded it with chairs, turned off the lights and silenced their cell phones. Beneath a desk, the three curled up and kept quiet.

“I was just so scared,” Larson said. “I just kept thinking, ‘This can’t be happening.”‘

Hours later, after a 30-mile highway chase that reached speeds up to 120 mph, the fired worker police said was responsible surrendered with a look of relief, Genesee County Sheriff Robert J. Pickell said. The man, Anthony LaCalamita III, opted to leave a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun and ammunition in the car instead of using it, Pickell said.

LaCalamita, 38, said nothing as officers surrounded him and was “subdued. Very, very, very subdued,” the sheriff said.

LaCalamita was being held on charges of fleeing and eluding police and was expected to be charged today or Wednesday in the shooting.

Police said the person killed was a 63-year-old woman from Warren but would not name her. A message posted Monday afternoon on the accounting firm’s Web site said the office would be closed today in memory of Madeline Kafoury.

Larson said Kafoury was well-known and well-liked. She said Kafoury retired last year following the conclusion of tax season, but returned part-time this year after her successor quit.

Scherlinck identified the other victims as a 47-year-old man and a 48-year-old man. He said the men were in management positions, and the gunman may have also been seeking another man who wasn’t at the office at the time.

“It appears that he was especially targeting those two males,” Scherlinck said.

The families of the wounded men requested privacy, and the hospital would not release any details about their conditions.

“I’m not positive all three of the people were targeted but there appeared to be some purpose,” Troy Police Chief Charles Craft said.

LaCalamita was fired last week, Craft said, but still was listed on the Web site of Gordon Advisors. Calls made to Gordon were not answered, and a recording said the offices were closed.