Buffalo shooting survivor says 911 dispatcher hung up on her when she called emergency services during the attack
- A 911 dispatcher is under investigation following the shooting in Buffalo on Saturday.
- Latisha Rogers told The Buffalo News she made a desperate call to 911 as she hid from the shooter.
A 911 dispatcher was placed on leave and could soon be fired after allegedly hanging up on a supermarket employee who called to report last weekend's racist shooting rampage at the store in Buffalo, New York, while the attack was happening.
"Termination will be sought" for the dispatcher during a disciplinary hearing on May 30, Peter Anderson, a spokesperson for Erie Country, told Associated Press.
An internal investigation was prompted after an assistant office manager at Tops supermarket — where a white gunman shot and killed 10 Black people last Saturday — spoke about how a 911 dispatcher had hung up on her emergency call.
Latisha Rogers, 33, told The Buffalo News that she had whispered on the phone while hiding behind the customer service counter, hoping to remain unnoticed by the shooting suspect. The dispatcher "yelled" at her for it.
"She was yelling at me, saying, 'Why are you whispering? You don't have to whisper,'" Rogers told the outlet. "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."
Rogers told the outlet that she then called her boyfriend and told him to call 911 and report the shooting.
"I felt that lady left me to die," Rogers said, per The Buffalo News.
Anderson, the Erie County executive spokesperson, said it's unclear who hung up on whom, per Associated Press.
But he said "immediate action was taken" with the dispatcher, per The Buffalo News, and an internal investigation began on Sunday. The dispatcher was placed on administrative leave on Monday.
Last Saturday, an 18-year-old white gunman, dressed in tactical gear and livestreaming on Twitch, fatally shot dead 10 Black people and wounded three others in a "racially motivated hate crime." The suspect had plans to continue his deadly rampage and target more Black people, police told "Good Morning America."