News

A 911 dispatcher could hear panic in a child’s voice when a 10-year-old boy called after accidentally shooting his brother with his mother’s gun on Willamont Road.

Police say the boy found his mother’s gun, thought it was unloaded and pulled the trigger.

“From a parent’s standpoint listening to the child, the whole time… [he says] ‘I’m sorry, it was an accident. I didn’t mean to.’ That’s heartbreaking when you hear that,” said dispatcher Hydie Gorsuch.

Gorsuch said when she realized no adult was home, she shifted her focus.

“As a coworker of mine said, I went to mom mode. I used my mom voice, as she called it. And it’s, ‘Honey, I need this information. We need to get your brother to help. So you need to answer my questions,’” Gorsuch said.

She said years on the job taught her to compartmentalize, but this call was different. She has a 9-year-old daughter.

“I do own a gun, but it is locked up. It is safe key somewhere else with the lock box. The gun is not loaded and my daughter is aware of the rules. We don’t even go looking for it. She doesn’t touch it. She doesn’t have anything to do with it. So that made this even harder from a parent standpoint listening to this child,” Gorsuch said.