It's a side of a story we rarely get to see: what happens after a 911 call? On Tuesday a MetroSafe dispatcher was reunited with the woman whose life she helped save. WAVE 3's talked with both and has more on their unbelievable stories.The first part of this story is one of the things a lot of us fear most: being trapped inside your home, hiding only a few feet away from two gun-carrying intruders while trying to desperately get help.
In the early morning hours of May 6, 2008, Latonia went through a terrifying ordeal. "I woke up to gunshots, and I thought I was dreaming. And I sat up on the edge of the bed and I saw the big guy standing over my son, and I saw him shoot him."
Latonia says she was only a few feet from the gunman. "If he had been standing up, we would have looked at each other eye to eye, but he was bent over him with the gun."
That's when Latonia made a call that may have saved her life. "I grabbed my phone and I sat on the floor beside the bed. I dialed 911 and then I just tried to get up under the bed."
On the other end of the phone, Shelia Chambers was trying to understand the woman whispering from her hiding place under a bed.Dispatcher:
911, this is Operator Chambers. What is your emergency?
Lumpkins:
Can you send police to 2606 Colin?
Dispatcher:
Is it 2-6-0-6 Colin?
In hushed whispers, Latonia repeats her location and tries to explain that there are gunmen inside her home.
Dispatcher:
Are they inside shooting?
Lumpkins:
Yes, yes.
Sheila asks other questions, but Latonia is unable to answer, and Sheila begins to realize that Latonia is hiding.
Dispatcher:
Where are you hiding?
Lumpkins:
Upstairs in the bedroom.
Dispatcher:
Stay with me, OK? (typing) Stay in there, be quiet OK?
Lumpkins:
Please help me.
Latonia tells Sheila that people have already been shot and asks her to "please hurry."
Lumpkins:
They just shot somebody else.
Dispatcher:
They just shot somebody else?
Dispatcher:
Is there someone in that room with you? Press a button if there is.
Lumpkins:
(sound of touchtone button being pressed)
Dispatcher:
Is there more than one person in there?
Lumpkins:
(sound of touchtone button being pressed)
On the phone, Shelia remembers fearing for Latonia's safety. "Are they going to find her? I was thinking how big is the bed? Is she back in it? Is there clothes around her?"
Latonia couldn't see anything else. "Half of me was still sticking out, but they never looked down and saw me."
Latonia says the two men kept walking in and out of the room where she was hiding.
"I guess maybe the second time they came into the room, they brought my 6-year-old and sat him on the bed, and I was still on the phone with the dispatcher but I could hear them telling him to go into my purse and just asking him questions: if you don't tell us where your daddy keeps his money, we're going to kill you."
The police arrived and took the suspects into custody, and Latonia was safe. Her son and another man were hospitalized with gunshot wounds, but both survived.
Latonia and Shelia met face-to-face for the first time on Tuesday. Their emotional meeting will be featured on "Call 911," a show that will air soon on the Discovery Channel. Latonia's case is one of three from Louisville that will be featured.
An exact air date hasn't been set yet, but it will most likely be shown sometime in the next six to eight weeks.