Dispatcher fired over mishandling 911 call during Buffalo shootings

An emergency services dispatcher in Buffalo, N.Y., who was accused of hanging up on a 911 call from a supermarket employee during the racist shooting rampage last month was fired, an official said.

The dispatcher, who has not been publicly identified, was fired in a disciplinary hearing, the official, Peter Anderson, a spokesperson for the Erie County executive, said in an email.

Mr. Anderson said the dispatcher, who had worked for Erie County for eight years, had been on paid administrative leave since May 16 “as the mishandled call was investigated.”

The investigation was prompted by comments made by an employee at the Tops supermarket, where a white gunman killed 10 Black people in one of the worst racist mass shootings in the recent history of the United States.

Latisha Rogers, an assistant office manager at the supermarket, told The Buffalo News that she had called 911 while hiding inside the store and was whispering on the phone to avoid the gunman’s attention.

She said the dispatcher admonished her for speaking quietly on the call.

Suspect ID’d in attack on LA doctor, nurses

Police on Saturday identified the man who allegedly stabbed a doctor and two nurses inside a Southern California hospital emergency ward and remained inside a room for hours before police arrested him.

Ashkan Amirsoleymani, 35, has been booked on three counts of attempted murder related to Friday’s attack, the Los Angeles Police Department said on Twitter.

He is being held on $3 million bail. It was not immediately clear on Saturday whether he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf and the district attorney’s office did not respond to an email asking whether charges have been filed.

Mr. Amirsoleymani walked into Encino Hospital Medical Center in the San Fernando Valley shortly before 4 p.m. Friday, police said. He had parked his car in the middle of a street and went to the emergency room, where he asked for treatment for anxiety before stabbing the doctor and nurses, authorities said.

3 astronauts head to Chinese space station

Chinawill launch three astronautson a spacecraft Sundayto work on the final stagesof construction of the nation’sfirst orbital outpost.

ALong March-2F rocket carryingthe Shenzhou-14 spacecraftwill blast off at 10:44a.m. local time Sunday fromthe Jiuquan Satellite LaunchCenter in the northwestGobi Desert.

AstronautsChen Dong, LiuYang and Cai Xuzhe will liveat the Tiangong space stationfor six months to completeassembly tasks for whatwill be a national space laboratory,Lin Xiqiang, deputyhead of the China MannedSpace Agency, told reportersSaturday.

Tiangong,comprising a coremodule, Tianhe, and twolab modules — Wentian andMengtian — is expected tooperate for up to 15 years.