Photo credit Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A 911 dispatcher has been suspended after allegedly hanging up on an employee who called from inside the Buffalo Tops supermarket on Saturday, while the gunman was in the store firing on shoppers and workers, officials have confirmed.
"I tried to call 911, and I was whispering because I could hear him close by,” an assistant manager, Latisha, 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.'”
Shocked, Latisha 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."
The alleged gunman, 18-year-old Payton Gendron, shot 13 people, killing 10.
Erie County, which runs the 911 communications center, confirmed the alleged incident is being investigated and "immediate action was taken and the individual who took that call is now on administrative leave pending a disciplinary hearing, which should happen within a couple of weeks."
The dispatcher could also be fired or face other disciplinary action.
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