NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A 911 dispatcher has been fired after allegedly hanging up on a Buffalo Tops employee who called from inside the supermarket while a white supremacist went on a deadly shooting spree last month, officials have confirmed.
“According to the Erie County Department of Personnel, the individual who was the subject of a disciplinary hearing earlier today is no longer employed as a police complaint writer for Erie County effective as of noon today," an Erie County spokesperson said Thursday.
"I tried to call 911, and I was whispering because I could hear him close by,” Latisha Rogers, an assistant manager at the supermarket, told WGRZ. “And 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.'”
Rogers added, "And I'm trying to tell her like, 'Ma'am, he's in the store. He's shooting. It's an active shooter. I'm scared for my life.' And she said something crazy to me and then she hung up in my face. And I had to call my boyfriend to call 911."
Rogers explained that the dispatcher yelled at her over the phone before abruptly hanging up on her.
The 18-year-old gunman had already started shooting inside the supermarket at the time of the call. Payton Gendron shot 13 people, killing 10 Black people during the hate-fueled attack on May 14.
Erie County officials confirmed the alleged incident was being investigated and that immediate action would be taken. The dispatcher was first put on administrative leave.
“It is obvious that that call was not handled in a professional way,” April Baskin, Chairwoman of the Erie County Legislature, told WIVB. She added that the dispatcher’s full record was considered during the hearing in which she was fired.
“We’re going to ask for further investigations into the full department because this happened more than once in the matter of two weeks on Buffalo’s East Side,” Baskin said.
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