One of the 911 call center dispatchers provided insight to the Mass Casualty Commission on what it was like when people began calling in Portapique, Nova Scotia, to report shootings, killings, and fires.
Jennifer MacCallum was one of the supervisors on the night of April 18, 2020 at the Truro-based RCMP Operational Command Center.
He testified in September as part of the investigation into the killings of 22 people.
Jennifer MacCallum remembers this as her colleague, Donnalee Williston to take the first call at 10:01 pm
My neighbor is crazysaid Jamie Blair in a call transcript.
He then said that he thinks his wife, Greg Blair, was shot. He said he was lying on their balcony and not moving.
There was a police car in the damn drivewayadded Jamie Blair.
He specified that there were no police. Then he gives Donnalee Williston Gabriel’s name and explained that it was his neighbor. He also said he had a big gun.
Then we hear Jamie Blair on the phone, call her children. There are whispers, then a scream, and a voice saying Help me before the call is cut off.
The call will change command center dynamics over the next 13 hours.
We no longer have time to cry in the center, we still have a lot to dosaid Donnalee Williston in her interview with the Commission.
He quickly filled out his report to send emergency responders on the road.
The team then began the process of assigning police officers to the scene.
Then came the second call. This time it was the children of Greg and Jamie Blair.
They fled to their home, where their mother and father were killed, and hid with their neighbor, Lisa McCully. He also became the victim of the shooting and his body will be discovered on the ground outside.
Jennifer MacCallum tells how the look on the caller’s colleague’s face says it all.
I can see in the expression on his face that what we have is getting more serious. So I ran to the other side and said goodbye to the risk managerRemember Jennifer MacCallum.
He then asked his colleague if he needed help, but she nodded and remained on the phone with the children for two hours waiting for the police to evacuate them.
The questions, excitement and incredible fear that came from the side of taking calls was something I hadn’t seen in any of my shifts before.
Computer problems
The software used in the middle to hold a continuous diary the information started to have problems that night because of the amount of information.
Like the RCMP, people in the call center had a hard time accepting the idea that the user shot a marked police car.
Jamie Blair spoke about a police car, then the children of Lisa McCully The 911 dispatcher was told they also saw a police vehicle. The children also repeated Gabe’s name, and Jennifer MacCallum He recounted how he found out it was their neighbor, Gabriel Wortman.
He searched and discovered that he was the owner of an out of service police vehicle Ford Taurus.
Then there was another Taurus I found out while talking to my regional counterparts in Halifax. So I wonder how many of them arehe says.
He testified to the commission that he only found out the details of the replica car the morning after his shift.
Coordinated rescue in the woods
Jennifer MacCallum explained that when a critical incident commander faces a case, the 911 center can usually rest a bit, but not that night.
Jennifer MacCallum recounted how in the midst of this crisis, he stayed on the phone with Clinton Ellison hiding in the woods of Portapique after his brother was found dead. He remained on the phone until the emergency response team rescued him.
He was about to finish his shift when the shooting partner,Lisa Banfield, out into the woods. He showed up at a neighbor’s house, Leon Joudreyto immediately call 911.
He ended up passing the phone to her, and I talked to him, and I talked to him for a few minutes until the emergency crew arrived. And then I told them both to come out with your hands uphe says.
A trauma for employees
Donnalee Willistonwho took the first call that night, quit his job in August 2020. He believes that the RCMP can do more to help employees recover from their trauma.
I feel they should have followed the pattern after the shooting in Moncton and all dispatchers should have been deported within three or four weekshe says.
We went back right away, and I think that was a bit hurtful.
He specified that they had three days off before returning for the final report and then returning to work.
For its part Jennifer MacCallum she says she felt supported, although she acknowledged that the break would be worthwhile. Now that I looked back, picked it up right away, as soon as it happened, […]A month off would have helped.
With information from Blair Rhodes ng CBC
Source: Radio-Canada
