A 911 operator accused of hanging up on a caller inside the Buffalo supermarket where a gunman allegedly shot and killed 10 people on Saturday has reportedly been dismissed.
The operator, who has not been identified, received a call from an assistant manager of the Tops Friendly Markets grocery store during the terrifying mass shooting, according to local station WGRZ News.
This manager, known only as Latisha, told WGRZ that she told a dispatcher that a gunman was rampant, only to be reprimanded for speaking too quietly. She was then disconnected.
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“I was whispering because I could hear it up close,” Latisha said. “When I whispered on the phone to 911, the dispatcher started yelling at me saying, ‘Why are you whispering? You don’t have to whisper. ”
According to Latisha, she tried to explain that there was an active shooter inside the store where she worked, even telling the dispatcher, “I’m scared for my life.”
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The dispatcher, who WGRZ says has since been furloughed, is accused of saying “something crazy” to Latisha and then ending the call. The frightened store clerk said she then called her boyfriend, who reported the shooting to 911.
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The dispatcher accused of ending the call would face a disciplinary hearing where she could lose her job. Police said officers responded to the shooting within two minutes of notification. Payton Gendron, an 18-year-old suspected follower of the replacement theory, was taken into custody after the shooting.