Tragedy Strikes In a Moment, Dispatchers React

By all accounts, a very quiet Saturday turned tragic last Saturday when a gunman opened fire on citizens meeting with U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords outside a Tucson (Ariz.) grocery store, killing six and wounding 14 others, including Giffords. The suspect was quickly wrestled to the ground by attendees at the gathering, but for dispatchers at agencies all across the region, the apprehension was just the beginning. Starting with the first 911 calls, and running through days of on-scene investigation and a memorial service attended by President Obama, teams of dispatchers worked long shifts to coordinate the operations involving hundreds of law enforcement, fire, EMS and air units from a variety of jurisdictions. The experience proved what other dispatchers have learned—a major incident can occur within a second, require extraordinary resources and teamwork, and extend for weeks. And the challenges come from all directions: the continuing ring of 9-1-1 for daily emergencies, combined with calls from the press, families of victims, the curious and even crackpots.

According to the Pima County Sheriff, assisting agencies included the Marana Police Department, Golder Ranch Fire Department, Department of Public Safety, Northwest Fire District, Rural Metro Fire, Tucson Fire, Oro Valley Police Department, Tucson Police Department and Pima Community College Police Department.

The agencies are all on different radio channels, and in VHF, UHF and 800 MHz bands.

Even so, the sheriff reported, “As with any large scale incident,” a sheriff’s press release said, “all of these public safety agencies have come together and participated in a seamless response to the initial emergency and all subsequent events.”

Listen to the 9-1-1 calls made after the Tucson shooting here, and to the sheriff’s radio traffic here. The next day a good friend of the suspect’s dialed 911 to say he had received a telephone call from the suspect at 2 a.m.

Read accounts and descriptions from the April 1999 murders at Columbine High School (Colo.), another critical incident that tested dispatchers.

Tucson comm center dispatch supervisor Shayl McCormick recalls the incident for Urgent Communications.