My Worst Call

When people find out what I do, they always want to know about my worst call. I usually don't talk about it, but I'd just like to get it out there. And maybe this will help.

The girl will be called DD, she was in her late teens at the time and knew my little sisters. She had been to my parents house, I had met her a few times and I suppose that's what made this call so very hard.
I received a 911 from her boyfriend and he stated that DD had called him and said she was walking around town with a gun because she was going to kill herself. My Sgt. adv against calling DD on her cell phone just in case.. Pressing further the BF said that they had a fight about her sleeping with his friend. Later in the call it was that she cheated on him and then his story changed to her being mad that he told her to sleep with his friend. It was very confusing and the BF sounded like he was playing mind games with DD. I'll never know the real story, this is only my impression. He was to wait at a parking lot to meet with an officer to proceed from there. He called back on 911 about 4 minutes later and said that DD called and said she was going to be at his house. He was already on his way and I advised the officer where DD was supposed to be and sent an ambulance just in case.

I told the BF to wait down the road. Suicide is a very strange thing and you can never be sure what will set someone off when they are thinking about it. DD had just gotten out of the hospital after another suicide attempt and I just had a gut feeling that this was the real deal. So still on the phone with the BF and he tells me that he just saw her family drive by. He refused to wait where I told him and instead said that he was pulling up at his house and he saw DD and her family standing in the driveway. Then he started saying oh my God over and over and the line went dead. I got on the radio to tell the officer that I believed she had shot herself and the officer and EMS were on scene with in seconds. (Since we knew where she was going they had started that way already.)

Then 911 rang again and when I answered it, it was someone from the family. I couldn't understand any words they were trying to say, but their screams and crying were more then enough to confirm that she had shot herself. They were full of grief and it sounded as though their souls had been riped into pieces. It was a 15 second call that still haunts my nightmares.

About 3-4 minutes after that call, 911 rang again and it was a women in labor and the baby was crowning. My other EMS truck got there before she actually gave birth though.

DD ended her life in front of her entire family and was just waiting for BF to pull up and see her before she shot herself in the head. I told BF to wait. Why didn't he wait? Even with EMS arriving less then a minute later, there was nothing anyone could do for DD.

All these ups and downs in one shift, and so close together.

This job is insane.