******Not for the Faint of Heart******
******Reader Discretion Advised******
The following calls are very violent. You have been warned.
Before I begin the stories, all these calls took place in Colorado, where I work. Crime and violence are extremely high, and it doesn’t look like it will slow down.
This series of murders and suicides is interesting because it took place in the dead of winter. In the 911 field, winter is a slower period. Not a lot happens. The summer is when it picks up a lot. I’m worried about summer if winter was already that dark and violent.
Anyway, this string of murders and suicides started on Christmas Day. Yes, Christmas Day. I was also there for all the others that took place. I dispatched two of them.
Here we go…
I was one of the few dispatchers that had to work Christmas Day. Honestly, it wasn’t busy. I took over the channel from the previous dispatcher, and nothing was happening. At the same time, it was Christmas; there shouldn’t be much going on. Everyone should be at home, opening gifts, spending time with their families, and having Christmas dinner.
Maybe about five hours in, I got a couple of family disturbance calls and a few domestic calls — no big deal. Families get together, and they argue. About an hour later… I started getting reports of shots being fired in the area of an apartment complex. At first, it began with two reports of people hearing gunfire. Two turned into fifteen in about thirty seconds. When that happens, I know it’s real and about to get real quickly. The following report I get is a shooting. I already had officers headed to the original shots fired in the area, but now I direct them to the shooting. The police arrived to find a sixteen-year-old boy lying in front of the apartment complex, along with his family and multiple neighbors that heard the gunfire. Unfortunately, he was pronounced dead on the scene. Nothing could be done except find the killer.
Alright, here is the next one. You don’t have to keep reading if you don’t want to. I understand, but this is all REAL, and it’s scarier than the movies.
This day also started slow, It was January, and I took the channel over; nothing, in particular, was happening. I had officers out on a few theft reports and a couple of shoplifters. It was all very routine. I had the dayshift officers about to end their shift, and they were all headed to the station.
The next call that I got came in as an unknown problem. This is considered a high-priority call because we don’t know what is happening. It could be ANYTHING. However, the notes of the call were heading in a terrible direction. It read: Open line with a female screaming bloody murder.
As you can probably imagine, the dayshift officers did not return home on time. I started them to this address, and the notes continued to read: someone killed my mom. The call-taker kept telling me it was tough to understand her because she was in shock and crying uncontrollably. The following lines of notes read: Her face is unrecognizable. A few minutes later, the officers were on the scene and pronounced her dead, as you probably guessed. The officers described this scene as one of the most horrific they had ever seen.
If you are still with me and reading, that’s saying something! Here comes the next one. Spoiler Alert! It just gets worse from here.
This next call was not one that I dispatched but was brought to all the dispatcher’s attention because it was yet another high-priority call that read like a horror movie.
It was the end of January, about 11 pm, and the channel was busy. It was a Friday night, and the calls were back to back. It was non-stop, but all that came to a screeching halt when this call came in.
The call came in as a stabbing. The call read: I killed my mom. She’s in the kitchen. I’m off my medication, and I didn’t mean to. So now I’m calling you. The call-taker asked when this happened. He told her, around 5 pm. He then told the call-taker he would be waiting outside the house.
So if you all did the math, this call came in at 11 pm, but he killed her at 5 pm. Besides trying to kill himself during those six hours, I’m unsure what he was doing, and I don’t know if I want to know. Nonetheless, it was beyond unsettling.
The officers and everyone else in the room read this call as it was happening and felt that it was fake. It read too much like a script from a horror movie. Plus, it wouldn’t be the first time someone would make something like this up.
The officers arrived on the scene to find a guy about 20 years old, sitting on the porch like he said he would, but covered in blood. Once they saw him like that, they realized it was real. They ended up taking him into custody without incident, surprisingly.
After taking him into custody, they made their way into the house. Inside the kitchen, they found the mother deceased. There was blood everywhere. THIS WAS REAL, and this call took the lead to one of the most gruesome scenes officers had ever responded to. He was taken into custody, and I’m sure he is still in jail.
Here is another unsettling fact. This house no prior problems. So this came out of nowhere and completely blindsided everyone involved.
Still with me? Okay! Here comes the next one. Get ready.
I did not dispatch this next call, but it was another dispatcher. It was a relatively quiet day. Are you starting to see a pattern? The calm before the storm?
Anyway, it was February, around 16:30 (4:30 pm). A call comes in about a family disturbance. Unfortunately, these are pretty routine calls until there not. The call notes read: The father is fighting with the mother. They were both physically hitting each other. The father showed up to get some items that were his. It then became an open line with screaming and gunshots in the background.
That right there changed the call altogether. Now everyone that resides in that house is in grave danger.
The officers arrive on the scene; as they are about to exit their cars and approach, the mother runs out of the house, screaming and running toward the officers. But the father was behind her and shot her multiple times in front of the officers. The father turned the gun on himself. This all unfolded in a matter of seconds. Unfortunately, all the children in the house were outside and watched it happen. The mother was killed instantly.
I'm not sure if the father lived.
In my opinion, the families' lives changed in seconds. This call was highly devastating.
Are you still here? Wow! That’s all I can say at this point.
Okay, here is the next one.
This next call took place at the beginning of March. I was not the dispatcher on this call, but this particular call took every single dispatcher working on it to achieve this result.
It was about 20:00 (8 pm), and it was hectic. There was one officer available at that particular time. The call that came in was a shooting.
The call notes read: My mother’s ex-boyfriend broke into the house and shot my mother. The call became an open line with screaming and crying. The following sequence of notes read: He took the child, and he’s driving away.
The officers, at that point, had to split up. Some had to go to the house, while the others had to pursue the ex-boyfriend driving the vehicle with the child in it.
The officers at the house confirmed the mother was dead from a gunshot wound to the head. The officers at home had to keep everything secured and help the children that witnessed the murder.
Meanwhile, other officers started pursuing the ex-boyfriend’s vehicle. He ended up leaving our jurisdiction and heading on the highway. At that point, we had to get other agencies involved to help. We had three other agencies helping us. They stopped the vehicle. The ex-boyfriend ran through a field with the kid in his arms and fell. They took him into custody, and the child was not harmed.
Just a reminder, the officers had to be extra careful while pursuing this person, and that’s because he took the child. In my opinion, it was for an unfortunate reason.
This man was arrested.
In conclusion, the increase in violence has become an enormous problem. I never thought I would see these gruesome scenarios back to back in such a short time.
That’s it! Thank you all for reading! I know it’s long, but I hope I was able to give you a different perspective. You read it firsthand. If there are any comments or questions, please feel free to ask!
Please like and follow! I will be posting new articles at the beginning of each week!
Nat 🤍
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