Police Response Time

11 News is investigating why it took police four hours to respond to a mother's calls about children getting shot by an Airsoft BB gun.

It happened in a neighborhood that is surrounded with crime in the area near Astrozon and Jet Wing Drive.

Police say they say they couldn't respond to the reports of children being shot in that neighborhood because they had to send most of the officers working in the area to a Standoff with a wanted man. But neighbors say that’s not a good enough reason.

Neighbors along Cather Circle say someone is shooting an Airsoft BB gun at several kids and even adults.

"They were deliberately shooting. I'm pretty sure they were aiming for one of us," Justin Sims said.

Justin Sims lives next door to Lisa Thompson. She called 11 News Monday night after her child was shot.

"Its very unnerving that someone would try to hurt a child," Thompson explained.
She called police at 6 o'clock and an officer didn't show up until 10pm Monday night. Her neighbors are also frustrated.

"Four hours is definitely a little bit much when you're talking something that serious, little kids getting shot with [airsoft] pellet guns that's no good," Sims said.

But the police department says that kind of response time is not out of the ordinary. On any given night police tell 11 News they receive several calls and they don't have enough officers.

Police tell 11 News on a scale from one to four, with one being a life threatening emergency this call was a three.

The officer who did eventually come out to the neighborhood took down a report and asked neighbors to call him if it happens again.