North Fulton County

Police response to shooting under review

Sandy Springs police say they’re reviewing how officers responded to a recent shooting after it took 25 minutes for the first unit to arrive to the location.

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — Sandy Springs police are reviewing how officers responded to a recent shooting after it took 25 minutes for the first unit to arrive at the location.

Police responded Sept. 21 to the Nevadan Apartments on Glenridge Drive after receiving reports that someone shot a man several times in the back while he was getting his mail.

“He’s been shot and he’s lying down on his back right now,” a 911 caller told Chattcomm dispatchers.

After the shooting, neighbors told Channel 2's Mike Petchenik that they thought the emergency response was very slow.

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Petchenik filed an open records request for nearly a dozen 911 calls about the shooting as well as the dispatch notes.

The notes show that the first call came in to 911 at 10:22 p.m.

Records show that the first crew didn’t arrive for 25 minutes.

“A person has been shot,” a frustrated 911 caller told dispatchers. “Why does it take so long for somebody to come down here?”

At one point, the victim’s roommate asked dispatchers whether she should just load the victim into her own car and take him to the hospital.

Police said the victim’s friends eventually took him to nearby Northside Hospital, but he was taken to Grady Hospital because of the severity of his injuries.

A dispatcher told callers that, per policy, an ambulance couldn’t come to the scene until police had cleared it.

“It’s a gunshot wound,” the dispatcher said. “Someone could be around that has a gun.”

The victim survived. Police have not yet made an arrest.

Police told Petchenik that detectives identified a potential suspect, but the victim told police that he didn’t want to prosecute.

Sandy Springs police issued a statement to Petchenik about the incident:

"The delay between the original call and arrival of units was inconsistent with our normal standard of response," Capt. Mike Lindstrom wrote.  "At the time of the call, there were no available patrol units in the area. Most were engaged in a foot pursuit with a wanted felon.  A faster response time would have resulted if the district supervisor had pulled officers from the chase to the shooting scene.  In this case, a judgment call resulted in the delay in response."