GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — A Channel 9 investigation uncovered that it took 16 minutes before emergency crews helped a young mother shot inside a Gaston County home.
Paramedics took her to the hospital, where she died.
Eyewitness News reporter Ken Lemon asked authorities why it took so long to get Lacey West help.
In a 911 call, people were encouraging West to keep breathing and the caller pleading for help.
West suffered what would have been a fatal wound in most cases.
Police said her boyfriend, Jeffrey Eaker, shot West with a revolver in the bedroom of her Cherryville home.
Channel 9 checked the calls for service and noted there was a long stretch of 12 minutes from the call for help until EMS arrived at home on Black Road near the Lincoln County Line.
Channel 9 asked officials about the timing of the response call.
"Just get them here, please,” the caller said in a 911 call. “Please, get them here."
"Yeah, they are trying their best to get there as quick as they can,” the dispatcher said.
"Please, get them here," the caller said.
"Are they in the way?" the caller asked about nine minutes later.
"Yes ma'am," the dispatcher said.
"Can you find out where they are at?" the caller said.
The EMS director said it took them six minutes to get to the area, but they had to stay back.
"It's a matter of safety for the paramedics," director Mark Lamphiear said.
He said any time there is an active shooter, it is protocol for EMS to stage nearby until police clear the scene.
"Cherryville district one is a broad area, but our average response time is about 10 minutes in that area," Lamphiear said.
He said Wednesday, it took six minutes to get there after the 911 call came in at 9:41 p.m. EMS was dispatched a minute later and reached their staging area at 9:48 p.m.
The first officer arrived at 9:56 p.m. and cleared paramedics to enter one minute later.
Gaston County police said the closest officer was in Dallas, which is about a 20 minute drive.
They said it took 12 minutes to get there driving through the city of Cherryville, which was about five minutes away from the scene.
At one point, the caller asked the dispatcher why she didn't call for an officer from Cherryville.
Police said that call was outside of Cherryville's jurisdiction.
A county sheriff's deputy was also called.
A supervisor for that region said a 12 minute response time is fast considering the distance the officer had to travel.
In this case, a quicker response may not have changed the outcome, officials said.
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