911 dispatcher who took Buffalo shooting call put on leave
The dispatcher who took the call during the mass shooting in Buffalo, NY, has been put on leave after she mishandled the 911 call reporting the emergency.
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A woman mourns during a moment of silence for the victims of the Buffalo supermarket shooting outside the Tops Friendly Market on Saturday, May 21, 2022, in Buffalo, New York (AP)
The 911 dispatcher who took the Buffalo shooting emergency call has been placed on leave and may lose her job after mishandling the call and yelling at the caller.
The dispatcher reportedly hung up on a supermarket employee hiding during the mass shooting that took place in Buffalo, New York, last weekend after yelling at her while there was an active shooter on the scene.
"Termination will be sought" for the dispatcher who took the call at a disciplinary hearing later this month, the Erie County executive's spokesperson, Peter Anderson, told The Associated Press in an email on Wednesday.
An assistant office manager at Tops Friendly Market, where 10 people were shot dead by a White supremacist gunman last Saturday, told The Buffalo News that she was whispering during the call out of fear that the criminal would hear her, which would have put her life on the line.
The employee said the dispatcher shouter at her, asked why she was whispering, and then hung up on her, which prompted her to call her partner and ask him to dial 911 and report the ongoing shooting.
Anderson, on the other hand, claimed that it was unclear who hung up, casting doubt on the assistant manager's story.
The United States was shaken Saturday by the news of a white, gun-toting neo-Nazi teen carrying out a mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo. The spree has claimed the lives of at least 10 people.
The attacker drove more than 320 km (200 miles) from his home to the site, wearing military-style gear and clothing, namely a bulletproof vest, a tactical helmet, and camo fatigues.
The shooting was labeled a hate crime due to the fact that 11 out of 13 of Grendon's victims were black and varied between shoppers and employees, and the crime in its entirety was live-streamed on Twitch.
