Reel #21

on September 10, 2014

Intruder shooting – In September 2014 a Phoenix woman dialed 911 when an intruder broke down her door. She hid in a closet and armed herself with a handgun. When the burglar locates her, she shoots the man.
Shooting homicide – In Aug. 2014 a Santa Fe (NM) man dialed 911 to say that he had shot someone at his home with a .22-cal. weapon. The man stayed on the phone for nine minutes as police responded. Police were investigating a claim of self-defense from Edwin Watters, who was working with the victim at a construction job site.
Kidnapping – In Sept. 2014 two teens were kidnapped off the street in Bountiful (Utah), and driven around for hours. They manage to escape at about 9 p.m. and run to a nearby car stopped at a stop sign. The motorist let the victims dial 911 from a cellular phone. The suspects are still wanted.
Murders – In Sept. 2104 a Largo (Fla.) man dialed 911 to report he had killed six children. In fact, Donald Spirit shot the children (11, 9, 8, 5, 4 and infant) and his 28 year-old daughter. He told the Gilchrist County dispatcher he would kill himself, then hung up. Police arrived to find him dead.
Police shooting – In October 2014 a citizen reported a man carrying a samurai sword in Saratoga Springs (Utah). Police arrived, confronted the man and fatally shot Darrien Hunt. The family points out that the citizen didn’t mention any violation of law or dangerous situation, and that the dispatcher failed to ask probing questions.
Shooting – In Sept. 2014 the mayor of Bell Gardens (S. Calif.) was shot and killed by his wife during a dispute at home. The son of mayor Daniel Crespo dialed 911 for help and explained what happened.
School shooting – In October 2014 a student at Marysville-Pilchuck High School (Snohomish County, Wash.) entered the school, shot five classmates and then killed himself. One of those injured died. The lengthy tape covers the Marysville Police Department. (Note: The file is in compressed .zip format.)
Shoot-Out – In Oct. 2014 Oklahoma City (Okla.) a woman dialed 911 to report someone was trying to kill her. The dispatcher asked only about the address, but not about the situation. Police were dispatched 28 minutes later, arrived and talked to the woman. When two officers knocked on the door, one of five occupants opened fire, wounding the officers. He then fled, setting off a police foot chase and shoot-out. Read more here.
Fire – Shooting – In Nov. 2014 Leon County (Fla.) firefighters and sheriff’s deputies responded to a house fire. Upon arrival a man began shooting at the first responders, killing a deputy and wounding another. This radio traffic is from the fire operation.
Replica pistol shooting – In Nov. 2014 a man in a Cleveland city park noticed a young boy pointing a “pistol” around. The man dialed 911 and reported the incident, including that the pistol was “probably fake.” When an officer arrived to investigate, he confronted a 12 year-old boy, who reached into his waistband for the pistol. The officer reacted by fatally shooting the youth. The gun was a BB gun/replica without the required bright-color barrel tip.
Homicide – In Dec. 2014 a woman dialed 911 from her Greensboro (NC) home to say that she had exchanged gunfire with her husband, and that her husband had been hit. The two got into a dispute and the woman, a retired Greensboro police lieutenant, fatally shot her husband.
Kidnapping – In Dec. 2014 a Seminole County (Fla.) man was kidnapped from a Wal-Mart parking lot, driven around for hours and robbed. The suspects took Jardin Delman to a senior care facility, tied him up in a bathroom and left. He was discovered by employees, who dialed 911.
Car in water – In Dec. 2014 a woman in Cherokee County (Geo.) was delivering newspapers at 4:15 a.m. when her car ran into a pond. She dialed 911 and talked to a dispatcher for about one minute before her cellular phone died. The woman gave her location, but it wasn’t listed in CAD. Read more here.
Murder – In Jan. 2015 a man stabbed his 12 year-old brother to death, walked to a Circle K and used a stranger’s cellular phone to dial 911. A Phoenix PD calltaker calmly talked to Andrew Ward for 8 minutes, and even convinced the stranger to leave the phone with Ward so she could maintain contact with him. One day earlier, a young girl at the Ward house also dialed 911 to report Ward was “mentally unstable,” and asked for an officer to search his room for an weapons. The calltaker declined, and no officer responded.
CPR 911 call – In Dec. 2013 a woman dialed 911 when her husband went unconscious, and reached a Monterey (Calif.) EMS dispatcher Sandra Hamlton, who gave the woman CPR instructions. Read more here.
bomb bank robbery – In Feb. 2015 robbers invaded a bank executive’s home in New Britain (Conn.), held the family hostage, and strapped a device to the executive, saying it was a bomb. The man managed to dial 911 for help.