Jaydon Chavez-Silver
Previously:
An investigation is underway after a New Mexico firefighter dismissively hung up on a caller reporting a shooting that led to the death of a local teenager.
Firefighter Matthew Sanchez was on dispatch duty last month when he got a call about the shooting of Albuquerque high schooler Jaydon Chavez-Silver, 17. The teen was at a house with around 10 other people when someone shot at the house five times, KRQE reports, striking and eventually killing Chavez-Silver.
In audio first obtained by KRQE last Monday, a 911 caller, clearly distraught, can be heard saying she is trying to give the victim CPR .
Sanchez asks if the boy is breathing. The caller says "barely," and can be heard encouraging Chavez-Silver to "stay with me."
"Is he breathing?" Sanchez asks again.
“He’s barely breathing," the caller replies. "How many times do I have to fucking tell you?”
“OK, you know what, ma’am?" Sanchez responds. "You can deal with it yourself. I’m not gonna deal with this, OK?”
"No, my friend is dying!" the caller says before Sanchez hangs up.
A spokeswoman for the Albuquerque Fire Department told HuffPost that the department will not be commenting until it concludes its investigation of the incident. It is unclear when that will be. In the meantime, Sanchez has been placed on administrative desk duty, the spokeswoman said.
Albuquerque Fire Chief David Downe told KRQE that the investigation was initiated once the department learned of the "alleged misconduct."
Dan Sparago, a spokesperson for the victim's family, told KRQE that the family is "beyond belief about what happened."
“But at the same time they want to focus on [catching] the people who did this," he said.
A reward of up to $4,000 is being offered to anyone with information on Chavez-Silver's killer, according to a Facebook remembrance page for the teen. Anyone with information is urged to call 505-242-COPS.