Sheila Ayers made it to the media because she was fired from her job. It is not a common practice to see a regular person make it to the big media because he or she got fired from a job. But Sheila e. Ayers is different.
Her story of the shooting call became national news. Sheila was fired from her job as an Erie County 911 dispatcher after a Tops executive accused her of hanging up her distress call while an active shooter was killing people in her store.
Latisha Rogers was the one filing a report accusing Sheila of negligence. She admitted that on May 14, 2022, she dialed 911 and Ayers answered the phone on the opposite end. The shooter was still roaming the mall, taking pictures, so Latisha needed to speak in a low voice to prevent him from hearing her.
Of course, there are two sides to every story. And we will discuss them both. Latisha’s version claims Sheila was insulted and informed the supervisor but was too afraid to speak up. She informed Sheila that a shooter was active in her mall and requested that the decision-making staff send an additional drive to the business for immediate rescue and assistance.
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Quick Bio
Who is Sheila e. Ayers? Who was the Buffalo 911 dispatcher that got fired? Sheila Ayers is now a former Erie County Enhanced 911 dispatcher.
She was fired from her job and faces more accusations. Why? Because she failed to respond to a distress call from Jefferson Avenue Tops Mallassistant supervisor Latisha Rogers. Sheila also chastised the caller for speaking in a low voice and readily whispering.
Why she was fired? Because she failed to properly identify him. Once the allegations were made, she was placed on leave, but fired shortly after.
Ayers had her courtroom disciplinary hearing on May 30, 2022, and tried to remind people there were two sides to the story. Rather than listening to her tale, people started making judgments.
There is not much information about Sheila you can find online. Very few details were released at the time of the incident to retain privacy over the sensitive subject and avoid hate crime comments directed at her family and herself.
In that spirit, her Facebook information has been kept inaccessible.
The Call
Let’s talk about the call and what happened. As we said before, there are two sides to the story. Let’s start with Latisha’s version of the Buffalo mass shooting, and then we will talk about how a Buffalo 911 dispatcher should react in such a situation.
Latisha Rogers was an assistant office manager at the grocery store Tops. She called 911 as she hid behind a counter while a gunman was shooting people. During the Buffalo supermarket shooting, ten people were killed.
Latisha said she called 911, yet, the dispatcher told her to speak up instead of whispering. Rogers said, “She was yelling at me, saying, ‘Why are you whispering? You don’t have to whisper. 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”.
Sheila, on the other hand, says that Rogers has changed her account and that she is being attacked for one side of the story.
County Executive Mark Poloncarz said in the days after the mass shooting that Ayers disregarded her training. According to him, the way she responded was completely wrong. Denise Szymura, president of Civil Service Employees Association Local 815, said the union will file a grievance regarding Ayers’ termination.
How Should Dispatchers React?
So, how should a dispatcher react in such a situation? Let’s not forget, that the Civil Service Employees Association, CSEA, supported Ayers during the hearing. They announced they will file a grievance over the dismissal.
The emergency call center in Erie County receives 911 calls from both landlines and mobile phones regularly. Dispatchers at the local center are normally taught to detect that if someone is whispering during a 911 call, chances are, the caller is in danger.
Transcripts and recordings of the specific 911 call should be released in the aftermath of the shooting.
Some attorneys believe that “911 tapes can be viewed as records compiled in the ordinary course of business and as such, should generally be subject to disclosure”.
Yet, under Section 308.4 of New York county law, 911 calls shall not be made available to the public.
The Shooter
Who was the shooter? Payton Gendron was an 18-year-old man. He was indicted by a grand jury on charges of domestic terrorism motivated by hatred. This ruling carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison, as well as 10 counts of first-degree murder.
If Payton is convicted, the nature of the shooting and the large number of victims will result in a life sentence.
We have to remember, that the death penalty is not enforced in New York. Yet, adding a state terrorism charge, might have a stronger emotional impact and help authorities send a message about violence.
According to prosecutors, Payton Gendron traveled three hours from his home in Conklin, New York, to Buffalo, with the intent of killing as many black people as he could. Just before the attack, Payton uploaded the documents detailing his white supremacist views and how he had been planning the attack.
Gendron opened fire on consumers at a Tops grocery in Buffalo using an AR-15 style rifle he had recently purchased. The result was 10 victims.
Eight customers, the store security officer, and a church deacon who drove shoppers too and from the store were all charged with murder. The victims of the shooting ranged between 32 years and 86.
That shooting was followed 10 years later by a mass shooting inside an elementary school in Texas, United States, resulting in 19 murdered children and two teachers. The two incidents, the mass shootings in Texas and the Buffalo supermarket shooting reignited a national debate about gun control.
And that national coverage was a huge reason why Sheila E. Ayers was fired. Without such coverage, she might have kept her job, despite her mistakes in handling the distress call.
Net Worth
There is no official estimate for the Enhanced Call Center for 911 emergence vendors. What we know is that Sheila E Ayers has been working at the station for nearly eight years. She has never had an ill-discipline report filed against her name.
Her salary remains hidden, so we cannot talk about Sheila e. Ayers net worth.
37-year-old who enjoys ferret racing, binge-watching boxed sets and praying. He is exciting and entertaining, but can also be very boring and a bit grumpy.
