Amherst · Allenhurst · Shots Fired

Ten Gunshots Erupt on Allenhurst After Amherst Domestic; SUV Flees Toward Kenmore

A reported string of rapid gunfire late yesterday sent a black SUV speeding off, with no injuries reported on the air.

Yesterday at about 9:49 PM, Amherst police fielded a report of ten rapid-fire gunshots near 472 Allenhurst, with a black SUV seen fleeing toward Kenmore, according to the radio traffic.

The traffic tied the call to a domestic complaint at the address, one that dispatch noted had a prior switchblade history. No injuries were stated on the air, and dispatch did not indicate whether the SUV was located.

Amherst · Transit Road · Armed Crowd

Crowd of Ten Menaces an Audi With Knives and Guns Outside a Transit Road Liquor Store

Amherst police responded to a chaotic scene at Premium Wine & Spirits, where a group was reported damaging a car and threatening its occupants.

Yesterday at about 9:03 PM, Amherst police were sent to Premium Wine & Spirits at 7980 Transit Road for a group of roughly ten people reported to be damaging an Audi and threatening its occupants with knives and guns, according to the radio traffic.

By the time units arrived the crowd was dispersing, and responding officers reported the parties separated, according to the traffic. Dispatch did not state whether anyone was taken into custody.

Southtowns · Maylou Drive · Structure Fire

Heavy Fire Behind Consumers Beverage Burns for Hours, Pulling in Water-Shutoff Crews

A Hamburg structure fire showing from the rear of the building early this morning drew a full assignment and lingered into daybreak.

Early this morning at about 4:56 AM, Hamburg fire dispatch sent a unit to investigate heavy smoke behind Consumers Beverage at 5755 Maylou Drive, and within minutes a patrol location reported “fire showing from the rear of the building”, according to the radio traffic.

Dispatch struck a full assignment — Armor Engine, Big Tree Engine, Hamburg 6, Lakeview 8, Newton-Abbott 3 and a Portrait Park FAST team — moving the fireground to a tactical channel, according to the traffic.

The fire was still going hours later: at about 6:02 AM crews were requesting water-service control at the scene, with the Erie County Water Authority and a building inspector reported on location, according to the traffic.

Amherst · Ranch Trail West · Home Intrusion

Family Shelters Upstairs While Police Clear a Reported Intruder From a Ranch Trail Home

Occupants of an Amherst home reported an unknown person inside overnight and retreated upstairs as officers searched the house.

Overnight at about 12:48 AM, Amherst police responded to a possible home intrusion at 106 Ranch Trail West, where an unknown person was reported inside and the occupants were sheltering upstairs, according to the radio traffic.

Officers worked to clear the structure room by room, according to the traffic. Dispatch did not state whether anyone was found inside or taken into custody.

Amherst · Route 290 · Pursuit

Unplated Van Tops 100 MPH Fleeing a Stop Near UB; Driver Never Caught

University police broke off the chase for safety as the van raced onto the highway system, and it got away.

Yesterday at about 9:50 PM, UB campus police reported a vehicle traveling roughly 100 mph that refused to stop, made its way onto Route 990 and then continued westbound on Route 290, described as a tan van resembling an Audi with no plate, according to the radio traffic.

Officers said they were not following, and notified other agencies as the van fled, according to the traffic. Dispatch did not indicate that the vehicle was ever stopped.

Jamestown · Erie Railroad Station · Suspicious Person

With Great Power Comes a Great Screwdriver

A masked man takes a walk down the Jamestown tracks, tools in hand.

Yesterday at 5:13 PM, a Jamestown dispatcher sent an officer to 11 West 2nd Street near the Erie Railroad Station for a memorable suspicious-person call: a man in a blue shirt, red shorts and white shoes, “wearing a gold Spider-Man mask, carrying a screwdriver”, strolling the railroad tracks.

He was last seen eastbound. The web-slinger of the West Side apparently had somewhere to be.

Lackawanna · FD Dispatch · Last Shift

Careful, Rick

A dispatcher sends off a retiring hand with the gentlest of warnings.

Yesterday at 4:44 PM, a Lackawanna fire dispatcher keyed up with a bit of good-natured send-off for a colleague on his way out the door: “Careful Rick, don't hit a car on your last day”.

Thirty-five years, presumably, and the one thing they ask is that you make it to the parking lot clean.

Buffalo · Delta Ramp · Ground Ops

Echo, Mike, India, Lima — and a Whole Lot of Patience

The ramp crew spells its way through a stubborn last name on the tarmac.

Yesterday at 3:50 PM, a Delta ground crew at Buffalo-Niagara worked through the timeless airline ritual of confirming a passenger name over the radio, one phonetic letter at a time — “The last name is Echo Mike, India Lima” — after admitting they were having a hard time understanding.

Same sign as the G, right? Same sign as the E. Eventually, everyone was fully boarded.

Buffalo · Car to Car · The Duffel Bag

Whose Bag Is This, Anyway?

An overnight car-to-car mystery, solved in three transmissions.

Early this morning at 1:01 AM, one Buffalo officer put a question to another over the car-to-car channel: “Did you or Will put that duffel bag in our car or no”

The answer came back easy — yeah, it's in the tailgate — and a small overnight mystery closed with an unbothered thank-you, sir.

Jamestown · PD Dispatch · Pleasantries

And How Are You?

A Jamestown exchange of pure, disarming courtesy on the police channel.

Yesterday at 7:39 PM, the Jamestown police channel briefly abandoned all business for a moment of unhurried civility: “Hello and how are you? I'm very good, how are you”

Both parties reported being very good. Somewhere, a customer-service trainer felt a distant glow of pride.

Amherst · Eggertsville · Emerson Street

Emerson Street Fire Damages Four Homes, Displaces Family of Four in Eggertsville

Crews rescue four cats as flames spread between neighboring houses; Red Cross assists the displaced.

Yesterday at 8:47 PM, Amherst Fire's Eggertsville Command radioed in a lengthy loss rundown from a fire on Emerson Street that damaged four homes, putting the lead address at $140,000 in damage to the structure and $40,000 to its contents, with three neighboring houses logged at $5,000, $15,000 and $3,000 in structural damage only.

Crews stretched 600 feet of 1¾-inch hose and 200 feet of 2¼-inch hose, put up one aerial ladder and laid 500 feet of supply line off a hydrant at 642 Emerson to knock the fire down across the four properties.

Firefighters rescued four cats from the homes, and two adults and two children were displaced and placed in the care of the Red Cross; dispatch canceled mutual aid and put Eggertsville back in service at 8:48 PM.

Amherst · UB North Campus

Bag Labeled ‘Stuff From My Ex’ Found on UB North Campus Held Bullet Casings, Letter

Yesterday just before 11:00 PM, University at Buffalo Campus Police sent an officer to a residence hall office on North Campus after students found a bag on campus and turned it in to a community assistant; dispatch said it was labeled “Stuff From My Ex” and held screenshots, a letter and what officers described as bullet casings.

The responding officer said she did not yet have copies of the report and was still working the call as the search for who left the bag continued.

Buffalo · East Ferry and Mastin

Gunfire Reported From Truck at East Ferry and Mastin, Vehicle Flees

Yesterday at 8:20 PM, Buffalo police radio flagged a shots-fired report as dispatchers sorted through several overlapping calls, telling units to stand by while they sorted out the details.

Minutes later, dispatch relayed that the gunfire had come from a gray pickup truck near East Ferry Street[*] and Mastin Avenue[*], with callers saying they “could see the fire from the guns” as the truck passed in front of them — suggesting more than one gun was fired from inside — though it was not immediately clear what, if anything, the shooters were firing at; officers noted a partial plate broadcast over the air as King-Boy-Delta 5-6-1-3.

The truck fled in an unknown direction, and no further updates on injuries or an arrest followed on the channel during the window.

Olean · West Water Street

Olean Police Return to West Water Street for Missing Juvenile

Yesterday just after 3:43 PM, Olean police dispatch sent an officer to 211 West Water Street for a missing juvenile, framing the call as coming in — in the dispatcher's word — "again," radio phrasing suggesting it was not the department's first trip out for the same juvenile.

Minutes later a second officer radioed that he'd been flagged down over found property near the mall and would clear that call before heading to Water Street, while dispatch separately noted that a piece of found property reported by another caller on North Union Street had also been recovered.

By 3:52 PM, an officer confirmed he was on scene on West Water Street.

Jamestown · Forest Avenue

Jamestown Police Locate Missing Teen After Overnight Alert

Just after midnight, Jamestown police dispatch put out an overnight missing-person alert for Verena A. Warren, a white female whose date of birth put her at around 15 years old, described as 5'1" and about 250 pounds, wearing a hooded sweatshirt and brown pants, with dirty blonde hair and hazel eyes; she was last seen around 11:30 PM at 254 Forest Avenue, and dispatch instructed units that if she was located, she should be returned home to her father, Matthew Wright.

A few minutes later, dispatch reported she'd been spotted outside — saying whoever was there was refusing to let her in — and that she was now walking south on Forest Avenue, back toward the area where she'd last been seen; the radio traffic did not make clear whether she was successfully brought home afterward.

Salamanca · Rochester Street

Salamanca Police Search for Spray-Paint Vandal Seen Walking Rail Tracks

Yesterday just before 4:31 PM, Salamanca police responded to a report from Seneca Construction that someone had spray-painted several pieces of the company's equipment; the caller said he'd seen the suspect around 3:15 AM to 3:20 PM walking on the railroad tracks, describing him as a white male with long black hair, wearing a black flannel shirt and a green hat.

Officers gave conflicting updates on which way he'd gone — first reporting him walking eastbound on Rochester Street, then radioing that they weren't sure of his direction of travel after all — and one unit said he'd check the area on foot before following up with the complainant.