Emergency dispatcher fired over mishandling call with store employee during Buffalo shooting

An emergency dispatcher has been fired after being accused of mishandling a call from an employee inside the Buffalo, New York, supermarket during last month’s shooting that killed 10 people.

Erie County officials placed the dispatcher on administrative leave last month after Tops supermarket assistant manager Latisha Rogers told local news outlets that she was hung up on when she called to report the shooting while it was still unfolding in the store.

A spokesperson for Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz confirmed Saturday that the dispatcher, identified as 54-year-old Sheila E. Ayers, was terminated at a disciplinary hearing on Thursday following an investigation into her handling of the call.

Ms. Rogers told The Buffalo News and WGRZ that she was met with a “very nasty tone” on the call as she whispered her request for assistance while the gunman was still in the store.

“She was yelling at me, saying, ‘Why are you whispering? You don’t have to whisper,’” Ms. Rogers told 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.”

Ms. Ayers told The Buffalo News on Thursday that she is “being attacked for one side of the story” and accused Ms. Rogers of changing her story about what happened on the call.

She said she was sorry about what Ms. Rogers experienced during the shooting.

Eerie County Executive spokesman Peter Anderson said Ms. Ayers had worked for the county for eight years before being terminated.

The accused gunman in the attack, 18-year-old Payton Gendron was charged on Wednesday with 25 counts, including 10 counts of first-degree murder and state domestic terrorism and hate crime charges.

Prosecutors say Mr. Gendron, who is white, was motivated by racial animus in carrying out the attack in which he specifically targeted a predominantly Black community.

Mr. Gendron posted documents online shortly before the attack which conveyed white supremacist views and revealed that he had planned the attack for months. 

All 10 of the victims of the shooting were Black.

Mr. Gendron has pleaded not guilty.