Buffalo shooting: 911 dispatcher allegedly hung up on Tops employee

• A 911 dispatcher could be facing termination over her handling of an emergency call during the Buffalo shooting on Saturday.
• Tops employee Latisha Rogers said that she had been whispering while making the call to not attract the shooter’s attention.
• Rogers said the dispatcher got mad at her for whispering and hung up.

A Buffalo shooting survivor accused a 911 dispatcher of hanging up on her while she was making an emergency call during the shooting. The dispatcher, who was placed on leave, is now under investigation and could be facing termination.

Erie County spokesperson Peter Anderson told the Associated Press that a disciplinary hearing will be held on May 30, during which “termination will be sought” for the dispatcher.

Latisha Rogers, assistant office manager at Tops supermarket, told The Buffalo News that she hid behind the customer service counter to make the 911 call.

She said that she whispered on the phone in the hopes that she will remain unnoticed by the shooter, but the dispatcher had “yelled” at her for it and hung up on her.

Rogers recounted, “She was yelling at me, saying, ‘Why are you whispering? You don’t have to whisper.’ And I was telling her, ‘Ma’am, he’s still in the store. He’s shooting. I’m scared for my life. I don’t want him to hear me. Can you please send help?’ She got mad at me, hung up in my face.” 

“I felt that lady left me to die,” Rogers added.

Rogers decided to just call her boyfriend and ask him to call 911 to report the shooting.

Anderson said it wasn’t clear who hung up on whom, but “immediate action” has been taken with the dispatcher, who has been placed on administrative leave on Monday. An internal investigation was launched on Sunday.

The mass shooting in Buffalo last Saturday started when an 18-year-old white gunman came out of a vehicle dressed in tactical gear and opened fire. The fatal shooting killed 10 Black people and injured three others. He has been charged with first-degree murder and his case is being investigated as a “racially motivated hate crime.”

According to police, the suspect had previously threatened to shoot up his school last year and was planning to continue his deadly rampage to target more Black people.

Source: Insider