A 911 dispatcher who allegedly hung up on a Buffalo, N.Y., Tops supermarket employee during the deadly shooting that took place last month has been fired, officials confirmed.
A spokesperson for Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz confirmed to The Hill in an email that the person had been fired after a Thursday disciplinary hearing. The person had worked for the county for eight years.
The Erie County Department of Personnel confirmed to CNN that up until that time, the dispatcher had been on paid administrative leave since May 16.
Details regarding the identity of the dispatcher were not immediately clear.
Assistant office manager at Tops Friendly Markets, Latisha Rogers, called 911 during the deadly shooting that took place on May 14 when the white, male suspect — Payton Gendron — allegedly entered the grocery store and opened fire, killing 10 people and wounding three others.
Rogers told The Buffalo News that the dispatcher handled her phone call poorly.
“She was yelling at me, saying, ‘Why are you whispering? You don’t have to whisper,’” Rogers said, according to The Buffalo News. “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.”
The shooting was one of several high-profile attacks that have taken place in the United States in recent weeks. Shootings at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and at a hospital in Tulsa, Okla., have reignited calls for Congress to enact gun reform.
Eleven of the 13 victims were Black, and the alleged gunman reportedly espoused the racist replacement conspiracy theory in writings online before the attack. Gendron was charged on Wednesday with 10 counts of first-degree murder and domestic terrorism motivated by hate.
