Chilling call prompts probe of operator’s response

Detroit — A child’s anguished 911 call as her mother lay dying has prompted police to investigate the emergency operator and plead for the public’s help to catch the killer.

“My mother’s in the basement; I need emergency,” the breathless 8-year-old girl screamed to the 911 dispatcher on Monday. “She’s almost dead. Mommy!”

Audio of the call released Friday revealed the girl told the operator repeatedly her mother was breathing but near death. But the dispatcher didn’t ask what had happened or learn there was a double shooting at the home until more than four minutes into the call.

It’s unclear how long it took the operator to send help, but the woman died on the way to the hospital. Another victim was dead at the scene.

The chilling call, made shortly after two men opened fire inside a house on the city’s northwest side, has Detroit Police Chief Warren Evans outraged over “the agony of what that young lady went through,” he said.

“If you listen to the tape, you’ll be as righteously indignant as I am,” Evans said