Okay, so about this call.
I was working 911 with my roommate and we were leaving a hospital when a call went out for a stabbing. It wasn’t our call and we almost squirreled it as it was close to our location, but we didn’t. Well, it turned out we didn’t have to. A second call went out to the same location also for a stabbing. So, off we went.
We arrived pretty much seconds behind the first ambulance. We were all kinds of confused that they send two ambulances. The fire engine was already on scene and sounded a little harried when they called for the second bus.
So, now the four of us trudged into the apartment building and upstairs. This kind of call is always on the top floor, and there is never an elevator. We let the first crew go in first as it was technically their call. A firefighter looking like a deer in the headlights pointed out one guy stabbed in the abdomen lying on the couch, very much alive. The first crew went to him. The firefighter then turned to me and my partner and said “You can check the others, but they’re dead.” Well, that’s new.
We continue into the apartment and it split into two bedrooms. In one of them was a woman also stabbed in the abdomen, yet very much dead. It took about a second for me to realize this, I surveyed the scene a bit, and then Andy appeared behind me and said that his patient was dead too. I took an unfortunate glance into the other room to see that body on the floor, stabbed in the chest. It was at this point for a bit of self mental preservation I wanted to get the hell out of there. The entire apartment was like a scene out of law and order. Blood absolutely everywhere. It went down the hall, into each room, along the walls, on the doors, into the bathroom. It was absolutely the craziest thing I had every seen, and possibly the most gruesome.
We left the bedrooms and went to help our colleagues with the other victim. He was conscious, but was mentally handicapped so information was not readily available. Even simple things like, ‘what happened?’ and, ‘how long ago?’ are still relative mysteries.
Andy went downstairs to inform the hospital, and I went to the other ambulance and set it up for the other crew. By the time I was finished, they were still stair chairing the patient to the lobby. I helped them transfer him to the cot and get everything back in their ambulance. We made sure that they had everything in hand before we cleared the scene.
I don’t think either of us believed what we had just seen. We spent the rest of the day talking about it, a potential double murder is pretty big news. On all the calls we did after that the fire crews would ask “Were you up on that call?” Everyone had heard of it and everyone was curious. The radio traffic must have sounded interesting as other than calling for us, a third ambulance was called for as well, but Andy cancelled it shortly after we saw the scene.
The next day I woke up at work and my partner said: "Your ass is on the front page!" Indeed, a picture of my back was on the front of the paper, taken as I was putting away the stair chair for the other ambulance. I went to the store and bought a few copies to take home. I was glad to have something to laugh about.
I later met with a detective and told my story. They were only interested in what I did and what I touched. They also took pictures of the soles of my boots, as stepping in blood was completely unavoidable.
In the end they determined that it was a murder-suicide. Andys patient had stabbed my patent and the guy on the couch before stabbing himself to death. More unfortunate than that, they were father mother and son.
In terms of CISM, it was good to talk about it, but for a couple days, it was all I could think about. Before the official report of what happened came out we could only speculate what happened, and I think not being sure, not knowing the whole story bothered me. Well, it still bothers me as we’ll probably never know everything but, at least we got some answers.
We arrived pretty much seconds behind the first ambulance. We were all kinds of confused that they send two ambulances. The fire engine was already on scene and sounded a little harried when they called for the second bus.
So, now the four of us trudged into the apartment building and upstairs. This kind of call is always on the top floor, and there is never an elevator. We let the first crew go in first as it was technically their call. A firefighter looking like a deer in the headlights pointed out one guy stabbed in the abdomen lying on the couch, very much alive. The first crew went to him. The firefighter then turned to me and my partner and said “You can check the others, but they’re dead.” Well, that’s new.
We continue into the apartment and it split into two bedrooms. In one of them was a woman also stabbed in the abdomen, yet very much dead. It took about a second for me to realize this, I surveyed the scene a bit, and then Andy appeared behind me and said that his patient was dead too. I took an unfortunate glance into the other room to see that body on the floor, stabbed in the chest. It was at this point for a bit of self mental preservation I wanted to get the hell out of there. The entire apartment was like a scene out of law and order. Blood absolutely everywhere. It went down the hall, into each room, along the walls, on the doors, into the bathroom. It was absolutely the craziest thing I had every seen, and possibly the most gruesome.
We left the bedrooms and went to help our colleagues with the other victim. He was conscious, but was mentally handicapped so information was not readily available. Even simple things like, ‘what happened?’ and, ‘how long ago?’ are still relative mysteries.
Andy went downstairs to inform the hospital, and I went to the other ambulance and set it up for the other crew. By the time I was finished, they were still stair chairing the patient to the lobby. I helped them transfer him to the cot and get everything back in their ambulance. We made sure that they had everything in hand before we cleared the scene.
I don’t think either of us believed what we had just seen. We spent the rest of the day talking about it, a potential double murder is pretty big news. On all the calls we did after that the fire crews would ask “Were you up on that call?” Everyone had heard of it and everyone was curious. The radio traffic must have sounded interesting as other than calling for us, a third ambulance was called for as well, but Andy cancelled it shortly after we saw the scene.
The next day I woke up at work and my partner said: "Your ass is on the front page!" Indeed, a picture of my back was on the front of the paper, taken as I was putting away the stair chair for the other ambulance. I went to the store and bought a few copies to take home. I was glad to have something to laugh about.
I later met with a detective and told my story. They were only interested in what I did and what I touched. They also took pictures of the soles of my boots, as stepping in blood was completely unavoidable.
In the end they determined that it was a murder-suicide. Andys patient had stabbed my patent and the guy on the couch before stabbing himself to death. More unfortunate than that, they were father mother and son.
In terms of CISM, it was good to talk about it, but for a couple days, it was all I could think about. Before the official report of what happened came out we could only speculate what happened, and I think not being sure, not knowing the whole story bothered me. Well, it still bothers me as we’ll probably never know everything but, at least we got some answers.
Comments