Buffalo mass shooting update: Dispatcher fired for mishandling 911 calls

Tops Supermarket was the scene of the Buffalo mass shooting (Image via Taylor Thompson/Twitter)

A 911 dispatcher on duty was fired during the Buffalo shooting incident after a disciplinary hearing. The concerned was accused of hanging up on a caller who called from inside the Tops supermarket where the attack took place.

The dispatcher, identified as Sheila E. Ayers, has worked with the Erie County Central Police Services Department for eight years. Her name was not revealed by authorities but by The Buffalo News.

Once an investigation into the "mishandled call" was carried out, Ayers was on administrative leave from May 16, Peter Anderson, a spokesman for the office of the Erie County Executive, told reporters.

Meanwhile, Ayers, speaking to The Buffalo News, said she was sorry for what the caller went through during the traumatic event.

Following the removal of Ayers from her job on the morning of June 2, Anderson stated that she was no longer working for Erie County.

The 54-year-old was fired from her place of work on the same day the accused Payton Gendron pleaded not guilty to new hate-motivated domestic terrorism and other charges.

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Buffalo mass shooting: Ayers criticized for poor handling of the distressed call

On May 14, Latisha Rogers, an assistant office manager at the Tops Friendly Market located on Jefferson Avenue, Buffalo, called 911 to report the shooting. Speaking to reporters, Rogers detailed how she crouched behind the store’s customer service desk from where she made the call.

In a conversation with WZZM, Rogers said:

"I called 911, I went through the whole operator and everything, the dispatcher came on and I'm whispering to her, and I said, 'Miss, please send help to 1275 Jefferson, there is a shooter in the store.

She further added:

"She proceeded in a very nasty tone and says, 'I can't hear you, why are you whispering? You don't have to whisper. They can't hear you'."

Rogers then stated that even after stressing the seriousness of the situation, the dispatcher was not much help. Rogers said she even dropped to a whisper as the shooter was still in the store and continuing with his violence.

Rogers said:

"Out of nervousness, my phone fell out of my hand, she said something I couldn't make out, and then the phone hung up."

Giving his opinion on how Ayers handled the call, County Executive Marc Poloncarz said it was "completely unacceptable" and maintained that the county would seek to fire the dispatcher.

The Civil Service Employees Association, a labor union in New York, said it would ensure that disciplinary procedures were "followed fairly and appropriately here."

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Buffalo Shooting: More about the victims and accused

The Buffalo shooting attack claimed the lives of 10 people and left three injured. According to the authorities, 11 of the victims were black, and two were white.

Payton Gendron is accused of being the gunman responsible for the 'racist' attack (Image via Getty Images)

The accused responsible for carrying out this horror was 18-year-old Payton Gendron. The gunman has stated that he identifies as a white supremacist and fears that people of other races will soon replace his race.

Gendron has been held without bail since the Buffalo shooting and is due back in court on July 7.

On June 1, a new indictment included a domestic terrorism charge, 10 counts of first-degree murder, 10 counts of second-degree murder as a hate crime, criminal possession of a weapon, and three counts of attempted murder as a hate crime.