LEAD AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD Williamsville · Amherst · Clarence — 05-20 15:00 to 05-21 07:00
FALSE ALARM
Silent Hold-Up Alarm Pulls Amherst PD to the Williamsville AT&T, 5712 Main Street — “Business as Usual at the AT&T Store”
An employee finger lands on the panic button at the strip-mall phone counter. No suspect, no demand, no second-call confirmation.
At 6:57 p.m. an Amherst PD officer keyed up the Amherst-Clarence trunk with a hold-up alarm at AT&T, 5712 Main Street — the strip-mall storefront on the Williamsville-Snyder line. “Hold-up alarm. It's a silent hold-up alarm at AT&T 5712 Main Street.”[1] Two minutes later the responding officer asked dispatch for any indication of where inside the building the trip originated; the answer was the one that defines a silent hold-up call: “Negative. It's just a silent holdup.”[2] By 7:01 p.m., after a walk-through, the radio gave the verdict every retail silent-hold-up call earns when nobody is hiding behind the counter with a demand note: “Down for business as usual at the AT&T store.”[3] Snyder 8 cleared the panel reset moments later for “First Floor Thump Detector 1901A Restore.”[4] Accidental trip, no offense, no further action.
DEVELOPING
Echo Response to 6363 Transit Road, Room 223 — 83-Year-Old Female in Cardiac Arrest at Sutton Senior Living
Amherst Fire Dispatch struck tones for a full ALS response; East Amherst Engine 101 on location inside five minutes.
At 5:58 p.m. Amherst Fire Dispatch toned an Echo-level EMS call to 6363 Transit Road, Room 223 — the senior-living facility on the east side of Transit near Inwood Bridge Lane and Old Post Road West. “83 year old female, cardiac arrest”[5][6] went out across the trunk in the dispatcher's neutral cadence. East Amherst's Engine 101 reported on location inside Room 223 within three minutes: “East Amherst 101 on location, room 223.”[7] Echo is the highest priority on the EMS dispatch ladder — immediately life-threatening — and is the radio shorthand for a working code. No transport destination or outcome was aired on the channel before the window closed.
RESOLVED
Missing-Person Page Becomes a Phone Ping at Eastern Pearl Restaurant — Suicidal Female in a 2025 Black Ford Bronco, Found Safe at Home Within the Hour
From a Maple Road parking-lot phone ping at 7:44 p.m. to a 8:25 p.m. screen-out: “She's back home.”
At 7:44 p.m. Amherst PD put out an attempt-to-locate over the Amherst-Clarence trunk for a missing-persons complaint at 2395 North Forest, with the unusual operational gift of a live cell ping. “If you would take the attempt to locate, it's going to be this missing persons complaint for 2395 North Forest.”[8] The officer reading the entry walked dispatch through the geofence: “I just pinged the phone, and it's pinging over in the area of the Eastern Pearl restaurant on Maple Road … 938 Maple Road, and it's within 872 meters. You're looking for a 2025 black Ford Bronco.”[9] A unit, Michael Charlie King 4574, was already in the area for what the radio characterized as a suicidal female.[10] The case closed almost exactly forty minutes later, also on the Amherst-Clarence trunk: at 8:25 p.m. “You can remove her as missing. She's back home.”[11] The booking officer was asked to fill out a BHT (behavioral health treatment) referral form and the units cleared.
EXCLUSIVE
“Threatened to Shoot the Employees by Holding His Waistband” — Amherst PD Out With a Suspect Named Marcus Harris, Outside Now
The transmission gave the radio's classic shorthand for a man-with-a-gun call: a description, a direction, and four units inbound.
At 7:12 p.m., immediately on the heels of the AT&T silent hold-up clearing one street over, Amherst PD opened a separate call on the Amherst-Clarence trunk with the line police channels use when a complainant describes a threat-of-firearm without an actual sighted weapon: “...to shoot the employees by holding his waistband.”[12] The dispatcher followed in seconds with the suspect's location, name, and outfit: “He's currently outside right now … it's going to be a black male named Marcus Harris … wearing a green jacket and black sweatpants.”[13][14] Four units acknowledged inside the next minute. The address of the business was not aired on the trunk during the window, and no further screen update was broadcast before dispatch moved on to the next call. No reports of shots fired.
Van Versus Tree on Main — 8780 Main Street, Between Connection and Overlook
Snyder crews dispatched cold with Twin City 240 inbound; single vehicle, single tree.
At 6:41 p.m. Amherst Fire Dispatch toned a motor-vehicle accident at 8780 Main Street, between Connection Drive and Overlook Drive, calling it “van versus tree.”[15] Snyder 9 went responding with Twin City 240 coming behind. Patient counts, injury extent, and tow disposition were not aired before the window closed.
Strong Odor of Natural Gas Inside a Home on Allenhurst Road — Eggertsville Investigates Just After Midnight
Reported in the residence, not the meter pit; investigated for thirty minutes with no second call.
At 12:09 a.m. Amherst Fire Dispatch sent Eggertsville to investigate reports of a strong odor of natural gas inside the residence at 205 Allenhurst Road, near Princeton Avenue and Cambridge Boulevard.[16] The location is in the village fringe between Eggertsville Center and Snyder. The dispatch was “in the residence” (not the meter or pit), which routes the call to a fire-investigation response rather than a National Fuel service ticket. No evacuation, no second call, no transport reported on the trunk before the window closed.
Convenience-Store Refusal at 4265 Maple Road, 2:29 a.m. — Two Men Denied Alcohol, Yelled at the Clerk, Walked Toward Crosby's
One of those Amherst PD calls that starts with the word “Anyway.”
At 2:29 a.m. an Amherst PD officer read the late-shift complaint into the Amherst-Clarence trunk: “Anyway, 4265 Maple, a clerk states that there were two males intact in the store. He refused to sell them any more alcohol, so they started yelling at him and left on foot towards Crosby's.”[17][18] 4265 Maple is the Williamsville-Snyder corridor convenience anchor; Crosby's sits across the road. The officer asked the booking officer whether there were charges or whether they were just looking for the two to leave; the latter, as far as the radio surfaced. No arrest aired during the window.
80-Year-Old Man Down, Head Injury, 1890 Maple Road — 5:01 a.m. Eggertsville EMS Call
An early-morning fall with a head injury at the apartment cluster near Maple at Sweet Home.
Amherst PD turned over the early-morning page at 5:01 a.m.: “...to 1890 Maple Road for an 80-year-old male that fell and has a head injury.”[19] Standard Eggertsville EMS response. No transport destination broadcast.
76-Year-Old Man Not Alert with Low Blood Sugar, 115 Robin Hill Drive — Eggertsville EMS
An evening diabetic call on the Robin Hill loop between Cedarwood and Birchwood.
At 5:36 p.m. Amherst Fire Dispatch toned Eggertsville EMS to 115 Robin Hill Drive, between Cedarwood Drive and Birchwood Drive, for “a 76-year-old male, not alert with low blood sugar.”[20] A standard glucose run; resolved without further alarm on the trunk. Note for the desk: this is one block north of yesterday's PM brief's 64 Robin Hill 92-year-old “found down” call — same street, two days apart, two different addresses, two different patients.
Trespass Notification in Hand: McDonald's, 3540 Main Street
An officer holding a paper from April 24th, walking the lot looking for the recipient.
At 7:19 p.m. an Amherst PD officer paged dispatch on the Amherst-Clarence trunk: “I'm holding a trespass notification in my hand from 3540 Main Street. This is McDonald's issued on April 24th for that male.”[21] The exchange that followed was the radio's polite version of “not it”: dispatch said “sounds fun,” the officer said “I will look up here,” and the call passed quietly down the queue.
OVERHEARD THE WIRES The signal's noise — sixteen hours of the strange, the silly, the human
WHAT THE…?!
“Engine Bamboo Was Set Off by Incense in the Bathroom Hallway”
An Amherst Fire Dispatch transmission that reads like an Etsy product description and a fire-alarm investigation report at the same time.
At 7:06 p.m., immediately after a school drill ran its fire panel through a primal-wants-a-fire-alarm activation, Amherst Fire Dispatch keyed up with the cause of the next incidental alarm of the evening: “Engine bamboo was set off by incense in the bathroom hallway.”[22] No injuries, no hazard, no further action. The investigator was, presumably, very calm.
WHAT THE…?!
The Cheektowaga Gas-Pump Door — A Lady, a Cement Barrier, and a Damaged Door
One of those calls that exists somewhere between an insurance claim and a sigh.
At 7:32 p.m. a Cheektowaga PD officer delivered the entire premise of the call in a single sentence over the Municipalities trunk: “She's upset because she opened her door into the cement barrier around the gas pump and damaged her door.”[23] The cement barrier is, of course, the entire reason gas-pump bollards exist. No charges, no offense, no body damage to the bollard.
3:55 a.m. on BNIA Vans: “Get Off the Radio and Do Your Job, Then You Don't Have to Worry About Us Getting on the Bus”
The Buffalo Niagara airport-shuttle van channel, fully ungoverned at the lowest-traffic hour of the day.
The BNIA Vans channel runs the airport's overnight rental-shuttle and employee-pickup fleet, and it is the closest thing the scanner offers to a live group chat. Late in the third shift the chat turned: “Why would you say that if you're not going to do it?” — followed twenty seconds later by the driver who had had enough: “Get off the radio and do your job, then you don't have to worry about us getting on the bus.”[24] The dispute, on the available record, did not get further refereed. The vans kept running.
TPS BNIA Shuttle, 12:04 a.m.: “I Just Read on Facebook That the LaGuardia Airport Has a Sinkhole”
The night shift at Buffalo Niagara delivers a breaking-news flash for one other airport, on Facebook timing.
Just past midnight one of the BNIA shuttle drivers got on the channel with the kind of geographically specific news bulletin that only feels relevant if you work in airport-land: “Hi, getting out of here on early. I just read on Facebook that the LaGuardia Airport has a sinkhole.”[25] The driver added, charitably, “It's all your fault.” Whether LaGuardia, in fact, has a sinkhole on the available record — the Listening Post does not endorse Facebook as a primary source.
Suspicious Vehicle at Main and Eggert — the Spectrum Office Building, 2:53 a.m.
An Amherst PD officer checking out a vehicle parked in the lot of the cable-and-internet provider's own office building. The radio response: “Sounds cool.”
At 2:53 a.m. an Amherst PD officer keyed up over the Amherst-Clarence trunk to report he should be checking out a suspicious vehicle in the parking lot of the office building — “the Spectrum office building at the corner of Main and Eggert.”[26] Dispatch acknowledged with the deadpan two-syllable response of every 3 a.m. shift in any agency in the country: “Sounds cool.” The vehicle, on the available record, was not towed.
The Dog in Apartment Two, the Complaint in Apartment One — Possibly the Same Building as the Oven Smoking at 150°
Two Amherst calls inside 30 seconds, both within a paper-thin wall.
At 6:24 p.m. an Amherst PD officer reported on the trunk: “Apartment two, they're complaining in apartment one regarding the dog in apartment two.”[27] Twenty seconds later Amherst Fire Dispatch struck a separate set of tones across the same channel: “Liam, so we're part of an oven that's smoking at 150 degrees.”[28] Different addresses, different calls, but the apartment-living co-occurrence is the kind of small accidental poetry a multi-unit weeknight produces on the scanner.
The Son Is Upset Because the Deer Is Still Alive
12:24 a.m., called in by mom, the kind of compact tragedy public-safety radio reduces to nine words.
From the early-morning Amherst-Clarence trunk: “Ben Fort, called in by mom, says that the son's on location and is upset because the deer is still alive.”[29] The deer's location, condition, and afterlife disposition were not aired on the channel. The son's were also not aired, but you can guess.
6:38 a.m.: “Check on a Dead Deer in the Roadway, Youngs Near Buttonwood”
The morning-shift bookend to the previous item, six hours later, one mile away. Different deer.
The first traffic page of the morning from Amherst PD: “Check on a dead deer in the roadway, Youngs near Buttonwood.”[30] No further updates aired. Wildlife dispositions on a Wednesday-to-Thursday overnight in Williamsville: one alive and disappointing, one dead and inconvenient.
WIRE REGIONAL BLOTTER WNY-wide — major incidents and the ledger of routine
Marine 22A-1022 — Coast Guard Notices to Mariners on Lake Erie and the Lower Niagara, In Three Voices
Across roughly nine minutes the Coast Guard's Lake Erie notice-to-mariners broadcast on Marine 22A-1022 read what Whisper produced as a meditation on violations of U.S. law, the Ohio State, and the indexes that would occur on or around the universe 20.6.[31] The underlying broadcast appears to be the routine Lower Niagara River / Buffalo Harbor / hazardous-conditions advisory that runs hourly on the channel. The radio is fine; the transcription is what the transcription is.
Mountview Assisted Living, Lockport — ALS Response for a 91-Year-Old, 6:42 a.m.
Niagara County Fire Control toned South Lockport EMS to 5465 Upper Mountain Road, Mountview Assisted Living, going to room 304A, for a 91-year-old. ALS-priority response.[32]
South Buffalo — Difficulty Breathing, Apartment 218, Between Hamburg and Jefferson
BFD Ch1 Dispatch toned just after midnight to a city apartment between Hamburg and Jefferson for a difficulty-breathing call, apartment 218.[33] Standard EMS response, no escalation aired.
Cambria EMS — 18-Year-Old Female Fell, ALS Run on Andrews Road, 8:30 p.m.
Niagara County FD: O2 Cambria, EMS, 4028 Andrews Road, just south of Youngstown/Lockport, an 18-year-old female fell; ALS request.[34]
Other Calls of Note
15:24 Amherst PD — Tier-1 page over the Amherst-Clarence trunk: caller line read “one male stabbed another male,” but follow-up traffic recasts the call as a contested apartment-2-vs-apartment-4 email-complaint at South Union, with the male in question “going through a mental health episode and may be seeing things.”[35][36] No injuries, no stabbing aired. Patient was 10-19 for transport and constant watch.
16:35 Amherst Fire Dis — investigation, 321 Evans, called in by a neighbor reporting smoke near the entrance.[37]
18:22 Amherst Fire Dis — EMS call, 113 Bennington Road between Steuben Drive and Pierce Drive; 31 Yorkville chest pain / trouble breathing follow.
18:35 EAFD Dispatch — 6-0 Bowen Road, 20-60 Bowen, left side between Rice and Woodard.[38]
18:47 Amherst PD — threatening-email welfare check at 600 Heron, apartment 623 (Ian Moog); the originating dispatch that this newsroom's prior briefs have been following for two days.[39]
19:12 Amherst PD — “shoot the employees” / Marcus Harris (see lead).[12]
21:33 S-E FD Cntrl — 10325 May Street, Apartment 105, South Street Garden Apartments.[40]
21:41 Amherst PD — complainant not on location says a male identified as Keontae Scott is at her residence; she wants him to leave; she's afraid to call us because he's there.[41]
22:52 Amherst Fire Dis — 2250 North French Road, Apartment 2, Prairie Pond Apartments, 42-year-old female trouble breathing.[42]
23:48 HMS Security (Sports Venues) — venue-security dispatcher checking on a break-room worker “with a southern union” possibly on shift until midnight.[43]
15:30 KTUFSD — school-bus dispatch confirms only one bus needed for the 3:15 trip; Roger Wicker is en route. The Wicker in question is a Ken-Ton bus driver, not the Senator.[44]
15:40 W Seneca Schools — mom asking dispatch why the route is running 30 minutes late two days in a row.[45]
18:36 BPD Ch3 Simul (Buffalo schools) — burglary alarm, library, second floor.[46]